Tottenham Hotspur target Wilfried Zaha could shun Crystal Palace contract talks
Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, and Arsenal have all been linked with a move to sign Wilfried Zaha from Crystal Palace – be it in the recent past or the present.
According to David Ornstein on The Five Podcast (h/t Football.London), there is a possibility that the Ivory Coast international shuns contract talks with the Eagles. If he does so, Zaha will leave the club as a free agent in 2023.
“…we’ve seen Arsenal linked with him, we’ve seen Tottenham at various points, and we’ve seen Chelsea last summer. That move hasn’t happened.”
“Palace value him so highly as they know without him there’s a good chance they’d be in a relegation scrap. So they’ve always set a very high asking price.”
A high valuation has meant that Zaha has been unable to leave Palace in the past, with Arsenal having a £40million bid rejected for him in the same transfer window as the one where they ultimately resorted to signing Nicolas Pepe.
Ornstein continued:
“There’ll be a number of clubs who will look at him and wonder if they can get him for nothing in the summer of 2023. There’ll be conversations I’m sure. Many in the game feel he’ll hold out and go as a free-agent and play in the Champions League.”
One cannot deny that Zaha is a high-quality player who is tried and tested in the Premier League over the years. Palace could have really struggled to stay up in the league on certain occasions if they didn’t have his brilliance up front.
The 29-year-old, however, would surely believe he is a player that can cut it for a team playing regularly in European competitions – something Palace aren’t. He still has a few years ahead of him and his versatility to play anywhere across the attack is a massive bonus.
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It just remains to be seen if he signs a new deal at Selhurst Park and commits to seeing out the remaining of his best years there. If not, this is an opportunity that the Lilywhites would be foolish to miss out on next year.
