Anan Khalaili is closing in on a move to Crystal Palace, and with the transfer all but agreed, ONE has turned its attention to a sharper question: will the Israeli winger actually start for the newly crowned European trophy holders, or spend his first Premier League season fighting for minutes?
Khalaili, 21, is set to leave Union Saint-Gilloise for a fee in the region of €28-30 million, according to reporting from Ynet, N12 and ONE — a figure that would make him the most expensive Israeli player in the sport's history. Crystal Palace are yet to confirm the deal, but Israeli and English outlets alike describe it as effectively done, with a signing expected within days.
The move follows a summer of turbulence. A transfer to Inter Milan, agreed at a similar fee, collapsed at the last moment after Khalaili reportedly failed the Italian club's medical examinations, with an irregularity picked up in his heart rhythm. Palace's interest emerged soon after and has moved quickly since.
He arrives at an unusually good moment for the south London club. Palace, founded in 1905 and long a model of self-sustaining, sell-to-buy football, won both the FA Cup and the UEFA Conference League in the 2025/26 season and will play in the Europa League this coming campaign — a first taste of continental football for many of the squad.
The manager who built that side, Oliver Glasner, left in the summer and has been replaced by Pierre Sage, who arrives from Ligue 1 side Lens after winning that division's Manager of the Year award. Sage has kept the back-three, 3-4-3 shape Glasner used to such effect, which is central to how ONE frames Khalaili's prospects: the system needs an athletic, attack-minded body in the right wing-back slot, and that happens to be Khalaili's best position.
His most direct competition there is Óscar Mingueza, a 27-year-old Spanish defender who joined Palace on a free transfer from Celta Vigo in July — Sage's first signing as manager. A La Masia graduate with Barcelona first-team experience, Mingueza is comfortable at right-back, left-back or as a third centre-back, giving Sage license to use both players at once rather than treat it as a straight either-or.
ONE's assessment is that Khalaili's attacking instincts and directness suit what Sage wants from that role more naturally than Mingueza's more conventional defensive profile, which could hand the Israeli an early advantage for the starting shirt even as a newcomer to the Premier League.
The picture is complicated further by Daniel Muñoz, the Colombian who has been one of Palace's standout performers at right-back and wing-back over the past two seasons. ONE's report says the club expects him to leave amid interest from elsewhere in Europe, with the outlet putting Palace's valuation of him as high as €50 million — sale proceeds that would help fund the Khalaili deal and open the very slot he is being lined up to fill.
Khalaili made his name in Belgium over two seasons at Union Saint-Gilloise, contributing six goals and six assists in 52 appearances last season while also representing Israel's senior national team. His versatility — comfortable as a winger, wing-back or full-back — is precisely what has made him attractive to a club like Palace that prizes tactical flexibility over rigid specialism.
Nothing is confirmed yet in terms of a starting shirt, and pre-season form and fitness will ultimately decide what Sage does. But the combination of Muñoz's likely exit, Mingueza's positional flexibility and a system that rewards exactly Khalaili's skill set means the Israeli could be thrown into Palace's first team from the opening weeks of the season, not eased in from the bench.
