Crystal Palace have their sights set on Sassuolo midfielder Filip Djuricic ahead of the upcoming transfer window, as reported by Tuttomercatoweb.

The 29-year-old has previous Premier League experience, having featured in nine top-flight matches for Southampton in 2015.

Price-tag and contract situation:

Djuricic is valued at £9m by Transfermarkt.

Palace may fancy their chances of getting him for even cheaper than that, though. The Serbian international has just one year remaining on his contract, and is yet to agree a new deal with Sassuolo. 

The Italian side could be willing to accept a modest fee this summer in order to avoid losing Djuricic on a free transfer next year.

Statistics:

Djuricic has made seven direct goal contributions this term. This includes four in his first five games in 2020/21, as Sassuolo made a flying start to the campaign.

The side play an attacking brand of football, having scored 45 goals in 27 league games, and Djuricic has been one of the driving forces behind this.

He has completed 39 key passes this season, ranking him second amongst his teammates, below Domenico Berardi.

The experienced midfielder also has a knack of arriving in the final third at the right time, and this is demonstrated with his shooting numbers. His tally of 45 shots in Serie A this year puts him in the top two for Sassuolo in this category as well.

Expert opinion:

Djuricic's key attributes were outlined by Serie A Analysis last year. Reflecting on what has made the creative midfielder so successful, they said: "His two-footed skills help him a lot, being unpredictable for the opponents both in the dribbling situations and in key passes.

"Djuricic is endowed with an interesting physical freshness and a good pace. Furthermore, his superb vision makes him one of the most impressive talents of Serie A."

Verdict:

Djuricic would inject a new sense of creativity into this Palace team, something which has been lacking for much of this season.

Looking at key passes (passes leading to shots) once more, Palace's top three contributors in this department have been Eberechi Eze, Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha. The trio have managed 30, 29 and 18 respectively in the league, but this is still comfortably behind the 39 produced by Djuricic, whose 1.7 average per game is also superior.

The Eagles have failed to score in 12 of their 29 league matches, indicating that they need someone who can come in and create more goalscoring opportunities for the team. Djuricic could well be that player and his prior Premier League experience is something of a bonus.