Crystal Palace hope to repeat Christian Benteke trick with new deal for Cheikhou Kouyate

The Senegalese midfielder is set to return for Palace against Chelsea this weekend after winning AFCON with Senegal

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Crystal Palace are reportedly in talks to extend Cheikhou Kouyate’s contract at the club beyond this summer.

The Senegalese midfielder, who just won the Africa Cup of Nations with his country, has only a few months left on his current deal at Selhurst Park.

Kouyate was the subject of transfer interest during January from the Middle East, though it seems that Palace are now hoping to tie the 32-year-old down to a new deal to remain in south London.

The Eagles are believed to be in favour of a 12-month contract extension for Kouyate though the midfielder would rather have a two-year deal, according to The Athletic’s David Ornstein.

The latter deal would equate to a similar commitment shown by the club last summer to Christian Benteke, who extended his own stay at Palace by two years after his initial five-year contract expired.

Kouyate has featured regularly under Patrick Vieira this season and has started 15 Premier League games this season under the Frenchman, who he has previously stated was his idol growing up.

He has often been deployed as the holding midfielder in Vieira’s preferred 4-3-3 system, making that role his own to the extent that Palace looked worse off without his physical presence in the middle of the pitch over the last six weeks.

Vieira’s loss was Senegal’s gain however, with Kouyate featuring heavily for the Lions of Teranga as they breezed to the AFCON title having only conceded two goals throughout the competition.

Kouyate played in every minute of the group stages before scoring in the quarter-final victory over Equatorial Guinea and going on to start in both the semi-final and final against Egypt.

"I'm really pleased, really happy for Cheikhou and for Senegal," said Vieira, who was born in Dakar, Senegal before moving to France as a child.

"With the generation that they had they never had a chance to win the competition and finally they've done it. You can see the celebration - it's a lift for the nation so I'm really proud of them.”