Former Crystal Palace boss Sam Allardyce has urged Arsenal to act quickly to bring Wilfried Zaha to the club with time running out in the summer transfer window.
Allardyce, who worked with Zaha as Palace manager, believes that the winger is ready for his big move and thinks it is a case of now or never for the Ivorian with Arsenal showing their interest by recently submitting a second bid for the 26-year-old.
Speaking on TalkSPORT, the ex-England boss felt it was on Arsenal to get the deal done, saying: “Pay the money. Time’s running out and the window is going to shut.
“Wilfried is proven at this level and he’d be a massive success at Arsenal. He’s ready, but Arsenal need to stop messing around like they are the minute.
“If Wilf doesn’t leave very shortly then he never will. He’s ready now to move on now, so Arsenal just need to get the deal done.”
Arsenal first approached Palace with a £40m bid for Zaha earlier this month and recently followed that up this week with an improved offer of £55m plus add-ons and a year-long loan of Reiss Nelson.
But, with Palace’s valuation still standing at £80m for their player and Arsenal’s reported transfer budget posing questions over their ability to fulfil those demands, the standstill in negotiations is hardly surprising.
However, Zaha has expressed his desire to leave Selhurst Park, which may suggest that he and Allardyce are on the same wavelength in that it may be time for the winger to move on.
Though without Arsenal paying up and the transfer deadline approaching, there is no guarantee that all parties will get what they want.
Whether Palace would be willing to let Zaha go without a replacement having already let Aaron Wan-Bissaka go for big money earlier in the window remains to be seen.
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