Jean-Philippe Mateta will NOT be in Crystal Palace’s Nottingham Forest squad on Sunday as £35m wantaway chooses not to play amid AC Milan interest – and Oliver Glasner reveals he is ‘not in the right place’

Jean-Philippe Mateta has been left out of Crystal Palace‘s squad for their crucial clash at Nottingham Forest on Sunday as he pushes for a move away from the club.

Coach Oliver Glasner said the French striker ‘does not feel in the right place to play’ after AC Milan made an offer to sign the 27-year-old on Friday, following on from failed bids of £35million and over from Sunday’s opponents Forest.

Mateta has agreed personal terms with Milan as they are his favoured destination, but Palace want a replacement before allowing him to leave. They are working to sign Evann Guessand from Aston Villa on an initial £2m loan while they remain in talks over the structure of a £50m bid for Wolves‘ Jorgen Strand Larsen, who also has interest from Leeds and Forest.

Milan are ready to pay £35m to sign Mateta permanently in the summer but want to sign him now on an initial loan with an obligation to buy.

Mateta is Palace’s top scorer this season with eight Premier League goals but told the club he wanted to leave earlier in January. He faced criticism from club support for his performance against Chelsea last week and Glasner insists there is more to his decision to omit the Frenchman.

‘It is nothing to do right now with the transfers. He is not in the [right] place,’ Glasner said.

The 28-year-old wishes to join Milan but the Italian side have not yet been willing to pay £35m 

‘To play makes no sense. We have to protect the team and I have to protect him.

‘That is why he will not travel with us to Nottingham. Again, there is so much noise, so much speculation, so many things going on,” added Glasner.

‘We need every single player at their best and JP [Mateta] isn’t at his best right now with all the noise that happens.

‘It can be football noise, but if someone has private issues where they can’t focus on football, then it makes no sense to play.

‘He can’t help the team and perform at his top level. We decided it is better not to play him.’

Palace sit 15th in the Premier League and have already sold Marc Guehi to Manchester City during the winter window.

They are yet to find a replacement for their former captain but Glasner, who confirmed earlier this month that he will be leaving at the end of the season, knows the club are working to bolster the squad before Monday’s deadline.

‘Marc [Guehi] left two weeks ago and nobody is in. You can imagine it is not so easy – every team wants to play a successful season, so it is not so easy that you can get the players at the end of January.

‘I see the club working hard to get players in to replace Marc and, of course, we have to prepare if something happens with JP [Mateta].’

Glasner said the club is preparing for different scenarios and Strand Larsen remains a target.

‘To be clear, it can be that Mateta stays, and he is a Palace player on February 2, and it can be that Mateta has left the club and a new striker is in.

‘These are the two situations we are talking about and discussing right now.’