Evann Guessand edges closer to permanent Aston Villa exit as Crystal Palace agreement revealed
Evann Guessand will complete a permanent move from Aston Villa to Crystal Palace if he picks up five more goal contributions before the end of the season.
Guessand joined Palace on loan from Unai Emery’s side in the winter transfer window, with a £28million conditional obligation to buy clause included in the deal.
According to Sky Sports, the Ivory Coast international must hit eight goal involvements for the Eagles in order to trigger the clause.
The 24-year-old has already scored twice and picked up one assist in his first six appearances for Oliver Glasner’s side, so now only needs five more to complete the move.
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Evann Guessand already has Crystal Palace agreement
Guessand grabbed an assist for Palace in his first game for the South London side, setting up Ismaila Sarr against Brighton back at the start of February.
The Ivorian then came off the bench to score a 90th-minute winner in the Eagles’ 1-0 victory over Wolves, before finding the back of the net four days later against Zrinjski Mostar in the Europa League.
He is well on track to hit those eight goal contributions before the end of the season, but Sky Sports are also reporting that Palace have an option to buy the Villa loanee for £28.5m, even if he fails to reach that target.
Guessand has already agreed on a four-year contract with the Selhurst Park outfit, which will be activated if the move is made permanent in the summer.
Unai Emery failed to get the best out of Evann Guessand
Guessand joined Aston Villa from Nice last summer for a reported fee of £30.4m, signing a long-term contract with the Midlands side.
However, that was cut short after just half a season at Villa Park, in which he failed to score a single Premier League goal.
In truth, Guessand just never adapted to the demands of Emery, and the Villa boss wasn’t willing to change his system in order to suit the forward.
The 24-year-old has proved his quality since moving to Selhurst Park, but Emery was never able to extract that talent, and Villa ultimately decided to cut their losses.
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