Crystal Palace are eyeing up Blackburn Rovers striker Ben Brereton-Diaz and he could be a big upgrade on Jean Philippe Mateta in Patrick Vieira's side.

According to 90min, Palace are one of several Premier Leagues sides to have scouted the 23-year-old forward, who has exploded onto the scene over the past two years after superb performances for club and country.

Last season saw the former Nottingham Forest man notch 22 goals in the Championship for the Ewood Park outfit as they narrowly missed out on the playoffs, and he looks to be aiming for promotion with Jon Dahl Tomasson's high-fliers this season, with nine league goals to his name.

That has left the Lancashire side in a precarious situation, as they will no doubt be desperate to keep the Chile international, who they value at £10m, as they look to earn promotion back to the Premier League, but they could risk losing him on a free transfer when his contract expires at the end of the season.

The Eagles have enjoyed a strong start to their season and sit just a few points away from the European places in the Premier League, so further squad depth could be targeted in January as they look to push on.

In the absence of Odsonne Edouard through injury recently, Vieira first opted to play Wilfried Zaha through the middle against West Ham, before deploying Mateta against Newcastle United in midweek, only for the Frenchman to continue his poor recent form.

The former Mainz man has averaged a shocking 6.20 rating from WhoScored for his performances in the Premier League, with just one goal to his name, whereas Brereton-Diaz has averaged a 6.89 rating.

The Chilean, although he is playing in a lower division, has also averaged far more shots (3.1 vs 1.0), key passes (1.0 vs 0.4) and dribbles (1.0 vs 0.2) per game than the Palace frontman, which suggests that he could be a big overall upgrade in Vieira's squad.

Therefore, Steve Parish should definitely be looking at signing the "phenomenal" - as dubbed by scout and journalist Ron Dor on Twitter - striker following the World Cup break, as it could allow the Eagles to finally drop the disappointing Mateta from their plans.