Why Crystal Palace must not let go of Wilfried Zaha

According to 90min.com (h/t Daily Express), PSG are plotting a summer swoop for Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha.

The 27-year-old Ivorian has undoubtedly been one of the top players within Palace in the last few years and has emerged as a top target for the Ligue 1 side. Last summer, Zaha was the subject of transfer speculation linking him with rivals Arsenal.

However, no deal materialised as they were ready to offer only £40million for his services, half of the £80million that Palace were demanding. This led to Zaha staying put at Selhurst Park and featuring 30 times for them so far this term.

He has scored three goals and provided five assists from 29 league games and is currently his side’s top assist-provider.  However, earlier this week, Zaha had hinted about the possibility of leaving the Eagles this summer due to the side’s lack of winning trophies.

The report also claims that the Palace winger admitted he wanted to win trophies at this stage of his career and was up for new challenges. That said, PSG are now in the hunt for the Ivorian winger in order to bolster their squad ahead of next season.

The French giants currently have four wingers on their side. Neymar and Angel Di Maria are the obvious first-choice wide-men while Jese and newcomer Pablo Sarabia are back-up options.

However, Di Maria turned 32 last February and Neymar has often been linked in recent times with a return to his former club Barcelona. With such a scenario still existing, PSG’s interest in Zaha does not come as a big surprise.

In Zaha, Crystal Palace have a star winger in their ranks

Zaha has been the Eagles’ star performer, having featured for them a massive 353 times. He has an impressive 56 goals and 70 assists to his name during his time at Selhurst Park, giving a fair idea of the talent that he is.

Having made 206 Premier League and 126 Championship appearances, the Ivorian is nothing short of experience and is one of the key players in Roy Hodgson’s side.

The Eagles, on the other hand, lack depth in their flanks with Englishman Andros Townsend being the only other recognisable face in the side. Both Zaha and Townsend remain the side’s obvious first-choice wingers.

Palace’s dearth of wingers has often seen Hodgson rely on left-midfielder Jeffrey Schlupp and attacking midfielder Max Meyer as a cover for Zaha and Townsend. However, they are not established wide-men like the Ivoirian, meaning Zaha’s departure will affect the side’s performance next season.

Hence, they should ward off any interest from clubs abroad for their star winger Zaha, at least until they find a suitable replacement for him.

Read more:

• Why Crystal Palace should let go of Mamadou Sakho
• Why Crystal Palace signing Danny Loader will be a good move
• Crystal Palace eyeing summer swoop for 27-year-old Burnley star James Tarkowski – A future leader at the back?

Verdict

A quick glance at Crystal Palace depicts that the side have a clear dearth of wingers in their side. Letting go of a star winger like Zaha will hurt them, as he is clearly one of the top performers in the side. Hence, they simply shouldn’t let him go.