Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha could make a move to Chelsea 'at the end of the window', Simon Phillips has told GiveMeSport.

The lowdown

With less a month of the transfer window remaining, Palace have only sold one first-team player - Christian Benteke.

The Belgian striker sealed a move to MLS outfit DC United for an undisclosed fee ahead of Palace's season opener against Arsenal.

But the departure of Zaha, Palace's most valuable player according to Transfermarkt, would of course be a far bigger story.

The 29-year-old only has 12 months left on his deal, which leaves the Eagles facing the prospect of losing him on a free next summer.

The latest

Phillips says Chelsea hold a long-standing interest Zaha and now spy an opportunity given his contract situation.

Blues manager Thomas Tuchel is a big fan of the player and could view it as a no-brainer.

“Wilfried Zaha, I’ve been told there’s still interest there," he said. "Obviously that’s historical interest from Chelsea’s side before the new owners. Something could be done there at the end of the window with Zaha, one year left on his contract, and Chelsea have always admired him.

“And I think Tuchel has the same way of thinking there. So he wouldn’t be an expensive signing to do, and I think he would be the kind of player that Tuchel would really like.”

The verdict

It seems like Palace may be minded to sell Zaha if they receive a suitable offer.

The Athletic's Matt Woosnam reports that they 'have no intention' of allowing him to leave for nothing in 2023.

And with Palace now looking to build around younger players with a high resale value, the wisdom of handing out a big contract to someone who's about to turn 30 might be questioned internally.

Still, it would no doubt be a pretty mighty challenge to replace Zaha, who top-scored for the club last season with 15 goals in all competitions.

He proved his worth again on Friday night, even as Palace fell to a 2-0 defeat, by completing three dribbles, creating two chances (including one big chance) and making three tackles. If you go by SofaScore metrics, he was his team's second best player behind Joachim Andersen.