According to Daily Star, Tottenham Hotspur are keen to secure the services of Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha when the transfer window reopens in a few days. It’s pretty evident that the North London club have not been close to their best in the first half of the campaign and the 24-year-old could be the silver bullet to turn their season around.
Spurs are struggling to find the back of the net and the summer signings have not quite settled under Mauricio Pochettino’s blueprint. Their favourite frontman Harry Kane missed a huge chunk of the action previously due to injury and their attack seemed bleaker than anticipated. If the Lilywhites were more efficient at taking their chances, they could have been fighting for the title.
Zaha would directly fit into Pochettino’s plan. Sheer pace, trickery and capable of scoring cracking long distance strikes – he has it all in the locker to be a constant thorn in opponent’s defence. The former Manchester United winger has managed to punch above the team’s weight and contribute 3 goals and 6 assists plus creating 21 chances so far this term. Having creative personnel like Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Son Heung-min in the offensive cards, Zaha could double up his tally if he moves to White Hart Lane.
Acknowledging his talent, back in the summer, Spurs did launch a £12 million bid (via Daily Star) which was further improved to £18 million but Crystal Palace stood firm that discussions will only take place for offerings above £25 million and they could stick to similar asking price this time too. Pochettino was reluctant to splash the money and turned his attention to Georges-Kévin N’Koudou from Marseille, who is having a hard time to enter into the manager’s good books since moving in.
Fortunes might favour him this time, though, as Zaha is reportedly unhappy at Selhurst Park as his pay is way lower than summer captures like Christian Benteke and Yohan Cabaye despite being a crucial figure. The mercurial winger was a Crystal Palace academy product and was sold to Old Trafford for £15 million in January 2013 before welcoming him back two years later.
New manager Sam Allardyce already has a huge amount of task as his team are only two points above the drop zone and have only picked up a single victory in the last 12 matches. Losing a key player midway through the season would be nothing but back peddling unless he finds the right man to fill the void in the transfer market.
However, the Palace attacker is also courted by Liverpool as Sadio Mane will be leaving for the African Cup of Nations in early January and Danny Ings is ruled out for the season. Speaking of the tournament which is held in Gabon, Zaha has applied to FIFA to take part with Ivory Coast, the country of his birth and if selected, he would be missing for approximately one month plus. This could be a turning point for both teams to source other options.
Whatever the outcome of the application, to ensure Spurs leap from the Europa League coattails to a Champions League position, prying Wilfried Zaha over would be a perfect ladder.
