Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha celebrates scoring against Burnley
Arsenal will not make an attempt to sign Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha, according to transfer insider Dean Jones.
The lowdown: Perennially linked
The Gunners are seemingly heavily linked with a move for Zaha every transfer window, despite never getting that close to actually signing the flamboyant forward.
The closest they came was in 2019, when BBC even reported an official bid for the speedster, but £40m was not enough to bring the Eagles to the table.
Recently, the north Londoners have once again been indexed to the 29-year-old Ivory Coast international as Edu and Mikel Arteta attempt to strengthen the wide attacking ranks at the Emirates Stadium.
However, on this occasion amidst interest from London rivals Chelsea, it appears as though Arsenal won’t be making an attempt to land Zaha late in the window…
The latest: ‘People within the club’
Speaking to Give Me Sport, Jones – a journalist for Eurosport – has claimed that sources from the club have suggested there will be no move for the 28-cap star.
He said: “I think one thing that will encourage them [Chelsea] at this moment is that Arsenal haven’t made any progress with it. It seems people within the club are indicating that they’re not going to go for Zaha at this point.”
The verdict: Alternative options
With a late swoop for Zaha off the table, Arsenal could instead look to Wolves ace Pedro Neto or Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk in order to bolster the options at Arteta’s disposal.
Despite being in the final year of a deal at Selhurst Park, the decision not to pursue the £34.2million valued Ivorian is hardly a surprising one given the talismanic forward’s age and likely lofty asking price.
That said, with four goals in the opening four Premier League matches this season, Zaha would certainly provide a ready-made option to the Gunners and one that perhaps shouldn’t be ruled out so hastily if other targets fall by the wayside in the final hours.
Sharing similar stylistic traits to the likes of Luis Diaz, Raheem Sterling and Said Benrahma (FBref), the Ivorian is already the finished article by comparison to others linked and a move to Champions League-chasing Arsenal could well be the perfect next step in his career.
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