by 
Crystal Palace are closing in on the signing of Millwall teenager Romain Esse.
Standard sport revealed in December that the Eagles had discussed a move for the 19-year-old internally.
Palace sporting director Dougie Freedman has visited the England U20 international from the stands at different times this season, while other Premier League clubs have been monitoring his situation.
The Eagles stepped up their interest earlier this week by making official contact with their south London rivals. It appears that the final details of a deal are currently being finalized.
Esse signed a new contract at The Den in the summer and new Millwall manager Alex Neil has stressed that Palace have to pay “a significant amount” to sign him this month.
“At the moment there is interest from Crystal Palace, which has been well documented. How far that goes, I’m not sure.
“But I think people need to recognize how successful we as a club were in getting Romain a new contract, which by all accounts took a bit of persuasion to stay in because he wanted to play football.
“He’s playing football now, he’s definitely been one of our best players this season. We don’t want to lose any of our best players but I think everyone understands the contractual situation around Romain.
“If he does move, he will do so for a significant amount of money, which from the club’s point of view will be a great deal given we could have lost him for free this summer.”
