Mateta has told Crystal Palace he wants to leave the club this January, amid interest from Aston Villa and Juventus in what is one of the biggest stories of the winter window.
The 28-year-old still has 18 months left on his current deal at Selhurst Park and the news comes as manager Oliver Glasner announced he will leave at the end of the season and defender Marc Guehi left to join Manchester City.
Losing Mateta would be a huge blow
Palace are in trouble and there will be no easy fix coming anytime soon for the side. Speaking to Free Bets, Morrison stated that the news at Mateta has come at the wrong time.
“I don’t think it’s the right time given the comments from the manager and Guehi leaving, but he may have his people in his ear and that puts him in a difficult spot.
“He will still likely get a move in the summer, but he has ambitions of getting in the France World Cup squad and for that he needs to be playing week in week out and if he moves then he may not get those opportunities.
“January is always a tough time to move for any player, but I still think there’s a great opportunity for him at Palace from now until May, they are still in Europe and have a good shot at going deep in that if they can keep players fit and get into some form and all the players should be aiming to overcome this tough time and pull together for the fans and the club, there is still lots to play for.”
How will Palace cope?
When asked if losing two big names in Guehi and potentially Mateta is a worry, Morrison stated that the club are used to it and should find a solution.
“No, I think they’re used to it. They lost Michael Olise, and he was their best player out of everyone, and he went to Bayern Munich, and they brought in Ismaila Sarr, and he has contributed tremendously.
“The recruitment from Palace has always been top-notch, particularly under Dougie Freedman, and he is big loss in that role, but hopefully they have the right people in place that they continue to unearth these gems and become quality Premier League players.
“I don’t worry about Palace, they lost the players I just mentioned, it also happened with Zaha, it happened with Aaron Wan Bissaka, and I’m sure it will happen again, but they always seem to thrive and be more than competitive.”
Palace value Mateta at around £35M and if he does leave this winter, Glasner and his team will not have long to replace him with just under two weeks remaining of the transfer window.