Crystal Palace and Newcastle Eye Espanyol Stopper Pau Lopez But Player Isn't Keen on England Return

Crystal Palace and Newcastle United both want to sign former Tottenham star Pau Lopez, but the goalkeeper isn't keen on returning to England.

Lopez spent last season on loan at Spurs, but failed to make a single appearance for the first team. The 23-year-old returned to Espanyol in the summer, and since his return he has had 20 outings for the club, keeping six clean sheets. But the player's contract is due to expire during the summer. 

The Spaniard has been linked with a move to Juventus and Manchester City during this transfer window. Tottenham have also been rumoured to be plotting a move for their former player, after passing on buying him permanently in the summer.

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But Crystal Palace and Newcastle are the latest clubs to be linked with the Espanyol goalkeeper. According to Sport (via Sport Witness), both clubs want to 'finalise the signing' of the young Spaniard. 

However, he is apparently not keen on a return to English football and has knocked back both clubs' efforts to sign him. Napoli is another club interested in signing Lopez, but he has put that on hold too as he is interested to see whether he can extend his contract with his current team. 

But Espanyol have reportedly already lost patience with the goalkeeper in there attempts to extend his current deal and have publicly stated that there will be no more approaches from them. 

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It's very much down to Lopez and his agent to get talks going again, and it's believed that they will comeback with a counter-offer. But if that doesn't work, the Spaniard will look for a new club.

Newcastle face an away-tie in the FA Cup fourth round against Chelsea on Sunday, while Crystal Palace's next fixture will be in the Premier League on Tuesday against West Ham at the London Stadium.