Crystal Palace closing in on Stuttgart midfielder Naouirou Ahamada

Crystal Palace are closing in on the signing of Stuttgart midfielder Naouirou Ahamada, 90min can confirm.

The Eagles have been searching for midfield reinforcements all season and have been tracking the availability of former loanee Conor Gallagher who, as of now, has been made unavailable for transfer by Chelsea.

Now, their search has taken Palace to the Bundesliga, with talks on for 20-year-old Ahamada.

Ahamada, who joined Stuttgart from Juventus in 2021 after a successful loan with the German side, has two goals and two assists in 17 games this season and is now being targeted by Palace, who have offered £10m for his services.

The French youth international, who was on trial with Chelsea before his move to Turin in 2018, is heading back to London for a medical ahead of putting pen to paper on a switch to Selhurst Park.

A defensive midfielder by trade, Ahamada has operated in both a two and three-man midfield this season for Stuttgart and is expected to slot into the Palace midfield alongside summer signing Cheick Doucoure.

With midfield depth a problem for manager Patrick Vieira, the versatile Jeffrey Schlupp has been deployed in a central role for large parts of this season.

Club captain Luka Milivojevic has lost his place in the team, with Will Hughes usually the preferred option off a bench which has included youngsters David Ozoh and Jack Wells-Morrison to help make up the numbers in recent weeks.