Terry Venables is making the most of his worldly footballing contacts to give Palace a distinctly cosmopolitan line-up ahead of Saturday's big kick-off.

With Bolton's visit to Selhurst Park just four days away, Venables is closing in on a Chinese takeaway with a difference as defensive duo Sun-Gi and Fan-Zyi head to south London.

The pair, each rated at £500,000, are expected to join by the end of the week and will team up with Argentinian duo Pablo Rodrigues and Cristian Ledesma who signed for a combined fee of £2 million last week.

The Chinese pairing were recommended by assistant Ted Buxton from his time as the Chinese national team coach.

Palace's new recruits will have been baffled by Saturday's pre-season "friendly" with Millwall.

The Eagles' final first team friendly before the season gets underway saw a fiercely competitive tussle with players even having to be withdrawn to "cool down".

Bruce Dyer bagged the Eagles' goal and Paul Shaw fired Millwall level with nine minutes left though Palace should have already wrapped the game up by then.

With several Palace stars still needing treatment ahead of Saturday, including Attilio Lombardo and Marc Edworthy, Palace's first line-up of the season could have some noteable absentees.

But Terry Venables' summer shopping spree is still not over and further new signings are expected in the coming weeks.

Australian skipper Craig Foster is the latest Socceroo being linked with a move to England as El Tel renews his Australian connections in a week when Mark Goldberg bought a majority share in Australian club Sydney Spirit.

The move is part of Goldberg's ambitious plans to provide Palace with talent from all around the world by buying up smaller clubs and developing links to foster young talent.

Colin Todd's Bolton will be without the hugely influential Alan Thompson who has joined Premiership Aston Villa.

The creative midfielder with the devastating shot was the mainstay of Bolton's midfield last season and the goals he didn't score he invariably set up.

Nathan Blake and Dean Holdsworth will be leading the line, although defensively Bolton still look frail with commanding Northern Ireland international centre-half Gerry Taggart on the move to Leicester.

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