Crystal Palace have made a bid in the region of £23m for Manchester City centre-back Eliaquim Mangala.
Palace are optimistic City will accept the offer for the 26-year-old, but BBC Sport understands a deal is unlikely.
Liverpool’s Mamadou Sakho was Palace’s first choice. The Frenchman, 27, is keen to return to Selhurst Park, where he enjoyed a successful loan last term.
But despite Palace improving their offer Liverpool seem unwilling to lower their asking price of £30m.
Analysis
BBC Sport’s David Ornstein
Mangala is also a target of West Bromwich Albion, who will only let Jonny Evans leave if they have a replacement, and Mangala is their preferred candidate.
With City looking to sign Evans and the Northern Ireland defender keen to move to Etihad Stadium, that deal would appear straightforward.
However, it is complicated by Mangala indicating he would prefer a move to Inter Milan and the likelihood of that has increased since Inter’s move for Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi broke down.
Mustafi’s representatives also held talks with Juventus, only for the Italians to sign his Germany team-mate Benedikt Howedes on loan from Schalke.
Mustafi will therefore stay at Arsenal – a situation that suits neither him nor them – and that means the Gunners dropping their own interest in Evans, who is also a target for Leicester City.
Meanwhile, aside from the unchanged Alexis Sanchez situation, the only significant departure from Arsenal is set to see striker Lucas Perez leave just a year after joining from Deportivo La Coruna.
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