Max Meyer passes Crystal Palace medical as Roy Hodgson prepares to land one of the deals of the summer
Germany midfielder has quit Schalke after falling out with the Bundesliga club and Palace are set to snap up ace who had been a target for some of Europe's biggest clubs
ROY HODGSON is set to pull off one of the deals of the summer after 22-year-old German international midfielder Max Meyer passed his Crystal Palace medical on Wednesday.
The four-times-capped German international is now set to complete personal terms before signing from Schalke on a Bosman free transfer.
It was a stunning bit of business for the former England boss, who had only signed Getafe goalkeeper Vicente Guaita until yesterday.
However it wasn’t all good news for the Eagles who failed to complete a move for long-time target Jordan Ayew from Swansea after his proposed swap deal with Dutch international Jairo Riedewald fell through.
SunSport understands Hodgson was prepared to pay the Welsh club £2million and hand Graham Potter former Ajax ace Riedewald, 21.
But one of the players, understood to be the Dutchman, has had a change of heart and pulled out of the deal at the 11th hour.
Hodgson will console himself with the news that Meyer has committed to Palace after passing his club medical.
The Palace boss has succeeded where Liverpool, Arsenal and Marseille previously failed by landing the four-times capped Germany midfielder – who Schalke valued at £28million – on a Bosman free.
Meyer played 28 times to help Schalke finish runners’-up to Bayern Munich last season and was expected to quit for one of Europe’s leading clubs after refusing the offer of a new deal last season to run down his contract.
The box-to-box midfielder captained Germany when they reached the final of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil and was part of the team which won the European Under-21 championship last season.
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However Schalke lost patience with Meyer, claiming the youngster priced himself out of the market with his sky high wage demands.
Frustrated club bosses and banished him from training in April after Meyer publicly criticised Schalke Sporting Director Christian Heidel.
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