St Etienne remain convinced of signing Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta this month.

On-loan from Mainz, Mateta has struck a sudden rich seam of goalscoring form with Palace, leading to talk of manager Patrick Vieira rejecting previous plans of sending him back to Germany this month.

However, Le Porgres is maintaining Vieira is prepared to end Mateta's loan, so allowing him to leave for ASSE before the winter market.

The decision will depend, however, on the Eagles first signing a replacement for the striker.

This week, meanwhile, ASSE snapped up former Valencia and Manchester CityEliaquim Mangala.