Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew has confirmed he wants to sign former Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini on a free transfer but that he's facing plenty of competition.
Pardew says he has met with Flamini several times to convince him to join the club, although he acknowledged that he could miss out again after also trying to sign Jack Wilshere on loan.
"Mathieu is a player I am looking at, yes. He would give us a bit more experience to winning games," Pardew told the Croydon Advertiser.
"We've had a couple of meetings with Mathieu to talk about what he would do here and how he would feel about competing with [Yohan] Cabaye, [James] McArthur, [Jason] Puncheon, [Jordon] Mutch, Lee Chung-Yong and [Joe] Ledley... We do face strong competition for him, but mainly from clubs who have got a much higher profile than us.
"It could well be a situation like Jack Wilshere, where we are in there but don't get it over the line."
Wilshere also met with Pardew before opting to join Bournemouth instead on a season-long loan from Arsenal.
The Palace boss said he deliberately left room in his squad in order to snap up a free transfer, and said Flamini fits the profile for what he is looking for.
"I like the fact whenever he played, he played in the big, big games at Arsenal when they needed someone to kind of lead the team over the line and get big results," Pardew said about the 32-year-old Frenchman, who was released by the Gunners when his contract expired this summer.
"Mathieu's name was always on that list. I have always admired what he's done, so I am looking at him."
And if Palace were to miss out, Pardew said he has other targets as well.
"There are one or two others floating about who are always of interest," he said.
