Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has cast doubt on his immediate future at Selhurst Park after admitting he’s “not good enough” in the role, following the club’s 1-1 draw against Zrinjski in the UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs.
Despite retaining Mateta, who is Palace’s top scorer with eight league goals this season, the Eagles paid a club record fee to sign striker Jorgen Strand Larsen from Wolves.
Palace were also on the verge of bringing in Everton winger Dwight McNeil until the deal fell through late on deadline day.
Glasner said he had “learned to accept situations” after Palace were also unsuccessful in finding a replacement for captain and centre-back Marc Guehi, who joined Manchester City earlier in the window.
“At the end of it, the club tried everything with huge offers and huge bids for a Marc Guehi replacement, but clubs said they don’t sell on deadline day,” Glasner said.
“Credit to the club that without getting any money for Mateta they still spent a big fee on Strand Larsen.
“On the other side, McNeil was the last one we thought we could finalise, but in the last minutes the terms of the deal changed again and the deal failed. I expected him and planned for him in the next day’s training.”
McNeil’s partner, Megan Sharpley, criticised Crystal Palace on social media for the way they handled the situation.
Everton boss David Moyes said the breakdown had “nothing to do” with his club and insists McNeil is “fine”.
“He’s in and he’s training as well, so Dwight’s OK,” Moyes said.
“We understand exactly where it went wrong, how it broke down. He knows everything about it and there’s no problems there.
“We had given permission for Dwight to go and have a medical and do all of the things required for it, so it was very hard to do much more than we have done.”
Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta’s move to AC Milan has been called off because of issues with his medical.
But Palace are still set to sign Wolves forward Jorgen Strand Larsen in a £48m deal before Monday’s 19:00 GMT transfer deadline.
France forward Mateta, who has been nursing a knee issue, had an initial medical examination on Sunday followed by additional tests on Monday.
The Italian club have now pulled out of the £30m deal for the 28-year-old, who wants to leave Selhurst Park.
Palace had been unwilling to let him go without having a replacement, but agreed a deal for Strand Larsen and granted Mateta permission to have an initial medical in London before flying to Milan.
Nottingham Forest have also been interested in the striker and had a £35m bid rejected by Palace last weekend.
After the 1-1 draw at Forest on Sunday, Palace manager Oliver Glasner said: “I expect either Mateta or someone else here as a striker.
“Everybody is really working very hard, but it is so close to the end of the window, so it makes it more difficult. I always try to be positive, so I hope.
“Worst case, we sell Mateta and no-one comes in, then it’s not a good window for Palace.”
Wolves have accepted a reduced offer worth £48m for striker Jorgen Strand Larsen from Crystal Palace.
Last week, the two clubs reached an agreement in principle over a £50m deal for the Norway international to move to Selhurst Park.
All that was left was for Palace to submit a written offer – and provided the bid was of the value discussed, Wolves would have accepted.
However, as BBC Sport revealed, the offer never arrived as Palace communicated their intention to walk away from the deal, which put the transfer in jeopardy.
Sources claim that Palace’s decision to pause final talks was down to reservations over the total cost of the deal, not concerns over the player.
The impasse in recent days has placed further doubt on the deal.
But with a little over 24 hours to go until the transfer window closes, Palace have now had a new offer accepted worth £43m plus an additional £5m in bonuses – a deal worth £2 less than their original verbal offer.
If the deal goes through, the door could open for Jean-Philippe Mateta to complete his protracted move to AC Milan.
Mateta wants to leave Selhurst Park with the Italian club leading the chase for his signature.
But Palace are unwilling to let the France international go without a replacement.