Crystal Palace are reported to be hopeful of re-signing striker James Vaughan from Everton in time to face Norwich City on Saturday.

Palace had made an inquiry about re-signing the striker, who scored five goals on loan at Selhurst Park earlier in the season.

But they were told that Vaughan was joining Celtic, who had agreed to pay a �250,000 loan fee.

However, when David Moyes brought Vaughan on for the final 16 minutes of the Merseyside derby against Liverpool, it meant Celtic would have been his third club of the season, which is against FIFA regulations.

There is a chance that Vaughan could move to a different club in England on an emergency loan, but a switch back to Palace is more likely.

If the consortium in charge can meet the player’s wages the deal could go through before Saturday’s game.

Vaughan played in Palace’s 2-1 victory at Carrow Road in October, their only Championship away win of the season so far.

Meanwhile, Palace boss Dougie Freedman’s plan to sign Plymouth full-back Onismor Bhasera is hanging in the balance as there are doubts about gaining a work permit for the Zimbabwean international.

The Eagles want the 25-year-old, who can play on the left of defence or midfield. But it is understood that Bhasera’s work permit will soon need to be renewed and Palace would want that to be resolved before they paid a fee for the Zimbabwe international.

Freedman has been linked with a number of players throughout the transfer window, and has so far brought in one-time Norwich target Steffen Iversen, Jermaine Easter and Alex Marrow on permanent deals.

Palace missed the opportunity to move out of the bottom three after being held 0-0 by Bristol City, but Freedman maintained afterwards he will only bring in reinforcements if the player and the deal is right.

He said: “There are a lot of different players out there but I will only pick the ones that are right for the club. The timing has got to be right as well, I won’t be rushing into any quick decisions.

“I’m not just going to buy someone because they come up for sale but we have got a few targets and when they come up and the deal is right, we will go ahead with it.”