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There was a fire underneath all that smoke, after all.

The Vancouver Whitecaps, after weeks of rumours of a transfer deal for Crystal Palace, have agreed to a 12-month loan for Premier League midfielder Jordon Mutch, as first reported by ESPN FC. Mutch is already in Vancouver and an official announcement is expected in the next 24 to 48 hours.

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Mutch is not expected to be a designated player under Major League Soccer’s salary cap rules, suggesting either Crystal Palace is picking up part of his salary or the Whitecaps are using a hefty dose of targeted allocation money to greatly reduce his salary cap hit.

Mutch, 26, is an attack-minded midfielder who plays box-to-box, but hadn’t been able to crack the first-team of Roy Hodgson’s squad this season. He hasn’t played a single game, making the bench only three times, after joining Palace from Queens Park Rangers in 2015. He only played four games for Palace last season, played the latter half of that season on loan to Reading, where he scored one goal.