Mauricio Pellegrino has impressed senior figures at Crystal Palace as they hunt for Sam Allardyce's replacement.

The Eagles initially made Marco Silva their number one target but took a step back after the Portuguese chose to take over at Watford, a club that was more willing to be used as a stepping stone.

Palace have been interviewing candidates this week after crunching the number on over 10 potential replacements for Allardyce, who quit in May, and Pellegrino was one of the surprise names to impress senior officials at the club.

Pellegrino is understood to still be in talks with the Selhurst Park outfit as they look to narrow their search to a final two. Sean Dyche and Roger Schmidt have also been spoken to, while former Saint-Etienne manager Christophe Galtier is also thought to be in London with a view to talking to the club.

Galtier, who had a brief spell in charge at Portsmouth in 2005, has just left ASSE after eight years with the Ligue 1 club and is looking to test himself in the Premier League.