Everton are reportedly weighing up a move worth £60million plus Cenk Tosun for Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha, according to The Telegraph.
The forward has been rumoured away with a move to Arsenal for much in the summer, but it has now been revealed in the Telegraph that Chelsea and Everton are also interested in the 26-year-old.
The Gunners have looked the most likely team to bring Zaha in this summer, and have reportedly made two offers, with The Independent stating that they had an offer of £55million plus the loan of Reiss Nelson rejected. The same report suggests that Palace will not budge for any less than £80million due to the sale of fellow youth prospect Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
The Telegraph claims that Everton are serious about this deal and hope that Palace will be tempted by the lure of Tosun – a player they’ve previously been interested in.
It is also stated that Chelsea – despite their two-window transfer ban – will be going after the Ivorian, hoping to agree a deal which could see him join the club next summer, with Batshuayi potentially going the other way.
Everton have stepped up their interest for Zaha pretty quickly and look set to blow Arsenal out of the water with the size of their bid.
Still, at £60million and Tosun they are still likely to be short, even though Palace have previously shown interest in the Turkish attacker. Palace were previously interested (Evening Standard) in the player before he joined Everton, but speculation has cooled since he has had a quiet spell in England – and it’s far from certain that Palace would want a striker who’s only scored eight goals in 39 (Transfermarkt) appearances, bearing in mind their goalscoring problems up top, with Christian Benteke only scoring once last season.
Despite the report suggesting that Zaha might be tempted by Everton, it’s a deal which may surprise Palace fans, considering his previous statements about wanting to join a club playing European football and his legendary status at Selhurst Park.
Considering this, Palace fans will be confident that Zaha won’t leave for Everton, as he risks jeopardising his status at the club which he grew up across the road from.
Everton’s interest could be good for the club. It could price out Arsenal, making him more likely to stay at the club if he does not want to move to Goodison Park. Alternatively, it could make Arsenal stump up more cash, which would pretty much signal the end of his Palace career.
If Zaha did leave for Everton, though, it would be heartwrenching for the Palace faithful. Zaha has given countless interviews expressing his love for the club and has always been respectful when talking about the fans, and despite saying he wants to play Champions League football (Daily Mail) and his brother telling Sky Sports he wants to join Arsenal, he’s never said himself that he wants to leave.
Palace have been as good to Zaha as he’s been to Palace. Steve Parish has always been fair with Zaha: he allowed him to leave Palace when he got them promoted to the Premier League to join Manchester United, took him back when it wasn’t going well and has always given him a fair wage – proved by him being the top earner at the club, on a reported £130,000 per-week (as per The Guardian).
With all that considered, Zaha leaving for Everton doesn’t seem likely, but it could easily spark Arsenal or Chelsea to get in gear and make an offer which Palace have to consider.
Crystal Palace fans, will Zaha end up at Everton? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!
