Wilfried Zaha - Chelsea & Spurs Linked

[Dave]

Sky reckon hes handed in a transfer request.

I hope one of the ITKs shoots this down. To do this a day before the window closes really takes away the special bond he has with the fans.

[RandoEFC+]

2 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

Sky reckon hes handed in a transfer request.

I hope one of the ITKs shoots this down. To do this a day before the window closes really takes away the special bond he has with the fans.

Seems as though it's true. Apparently it's been known for days he wants the move. He should have done this sooner though if he really wanted the move, but hopefully it quickens negotiations. I don't think it helps either club that he has left it until now, Palace are rushed to get someone to replace him, and we'll probably have to pay more as you're at maximum reluctance to sell now.

[CaaC (John)+]

DEAL FOR ZAHA IS NOW ‘DEAD’ – WHY EVERTON ARE RIGHT TO WALK AWAY

Following reports that Everton’s latest bid for Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha has been rejected, new reports suggest that a deal is now dead after Palace demanded £100million for the forward.

We covered the reports that claimed Palace had rejected an offer of £70million and both James McCarthy and Cenk Tosun for the Ivory Coast international, while The Guardian’s Ed Aarons is now reporting that the Eagles want £100million for Zaha.

The 26-year old is said to be furious after the club promised him that they would accept a reasonable offer for him last summer, and he is now holding out for a European transfer.

READ EVERTON VERDICT

Despite having just written a piece declaring my support for Everton’s big-money spending on Zaha, claiming that it was a move that signalled the club’s intent, I now feel that making such a large offer is unwise.

Palace have long maintained that £80million would be enough to tempt them into selling but if they have now retracted that and demanded an additional £20million, the Toffees are right to walk away.

Even though the club have vast funds to spend and both a manager and owner willing to go the extra mile to land their desired target, Palace shouldn’t be allowed to make a mockery of Everton by upping their demands.

The Eagles are well within their rights to demand premium fees for their star players, but in raising their price even higher despite their demands being met, it indicates a sign of bad faith.

Zaha’s own frustrations are a clear sign of that, and whereas the forward would have comfortably improved the club’s squad, I think Everton are best suited turning to alternative targets before the transfer deadline.

https://readeverton.com/2019/08/07/deal-for-zaha-is-now-dead-why-everton-are-right-to-walk-away/

[Stan]

#FreeZaha

[6666]

Will be interesting to see if this makes any difference with a day left. Obvious that he was hoping he could get a move without much drama but seems he's desperate now. Difficult spot for Palace to be in.

[Stan]

Palace are royally fucked if he does leave.

There's only so much Schlupp can do to help that team. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

Pretty poor from Zaha to wait until the last minute to putting a transfer request in - but that does mean he forgoes that "loyalty bonus" shite, which he should having recently extended a contract with the club.

If you're Palace, I think you've got to tell him "look just give us one more year" because they've got no hope in hell of survival without him imo. And they're not really a club that's planned for the future well, so that gives them a fighting chance this season to finish as high in the table as possible with Zaha, and gives the club a year to figure out what the fuck they'll do in a post-Zaha world.

[The Artful Dodger]

Not defending Zaha. But to play devil's advocate. He stayed last summer, supposedly with the promise of being allowed to leave if a good offer came in for him. Is 70mill not a good offer? I can see why Palace would say its not but in Zaha's mind he must feel they've gone back on their word. Although Everton aren't high fliers at the moment he maybe feels they're in a position to at least try to get there. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 minute ago, The Artful Dodger said:

Not defending Zaha. But to play devil's advocate. He stayed last summer, supposedly with the promise of being allowed to leave if a good offer came in for him. Is 70mill not a good offer? I can see why Palace would say its not but in Zaha's mind he must feel they've gone back on their word. Although Everton aren't high fliers at the moment he maybe feels they're in a position to at least try to get there. 

He could have put the request in after the first Everton/Arsenal bid was rejected. I don't disagree with the underlying premise of what you'd said, but the timing of this makes it pretty shit for Palace.

[The Artful Dodger]

Time is running out? He thought it was going to be done and it looks like it might not, only thing he can do to try and move it along. Plus this might entice bids from other parties. 

[Dan+]

I don't get why he thought it was near being done when Arsenal were miles off in valuation and nobody else in European competition actually came in for him.

I really think Palace will go this year. They've had a horrible summer.

[Chaaay AFC]

Premier league market is just out of control now, it desperately needs stabilisation but clubs are just killing each other with ridiculous valuations. All well and good clubs are getting a lot of money but surely this isn't sustainable. 

[The Artful Dodger]

36 minutes ago, Chaaay AFC said:

Premier league market is just out of control now, it desperately needs stabilisation but clubs are just killing each other with ridiculous valuations. All well and good clubs are getting a lot of money but surely this isn't sustainable. 

Only way to kill it is if clubs don't pay. 

[LFCMadLad]

9 minutes ago, The Artful Dodger said:

Only way to kill it is if clubs don't pay. 

Maybe, but maybe if that did happen youd get players/agents refusing to sign long contracts enabling them to just leave for free after 2 or 3 seasons which would kill the smaller clubs who sort of rely on buying to sell?

[Chaaay AFC]

28 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

Maybe, but maybe if that did happen youd get players/agents refusing to sign long contracts enabling them to just leave for free after 2 or 3 seasons which would kill the smaller clubs who sort of rely on buying to sell?

Spot on mate. I think we're getting close to a point where players and agents are going to start trying to take the power. We've already seen it with players running down deals, it's just far more beneficial financially to sign for a club on a bosman.

The Premier League and the clubs are clearly in a strong financial position but we're slowly restricting ourselves from European markets. 

[RandoEFC+]

I scoffed at their valuation of £70m last summer. I thought £40m-£45m for Richarlison was stupid money. We've reached a point now though where any player good enough to get in or near the starting lineup for a top six side is worth £50m+ unless you get them near the end of their contract or pick up a very rare bargain like Robertson.

I hate to see us spend that sort of money, but I want to see us challenge the top six, and the fact is, this summer we've seen Arsenal pay £70m+ for Pepe. Both Lacazette and Aubameyang would also break our club record fee. As far as I know Spurs are signing Ndombele, Dybala and Lo Celso for fees north of £50m in one window. Maguire is the latest in a long line of record breaking transfers by Manchester United. Chelsea obviously have a transfer ban but their record with big money signings speaks for itself. These are the clubs we're trying to catch so us breaking the £50m barrier is inevitable.

People will also say "Everton have to get top six spending that type of money" as well, but that's horseshit as well. I want to see us push on into that group, but I'm not having that inevitable criticism thrown at us if we sign one player for £70m when the clubs we are trying to catch have been doing that for at least the last two years on a semi-regular basis.

[Dan+]

1 hour ago, RandoEFC said:

I scoffed at their valuation of £70m last summer. I thought £40m-£45m for Richarlison was stupid money. We've reached a point now though where any player good enough to get in or near the starting lineup for a top six side is worth £50m+ unless you get them near the end of their contract or pick up a very rare bargain like Robertson.

I hate to see us spend that sort of money, but I want to see us challenge the top six, and the fact is, this summer we've seen Arsenal pay £70m+ for Pepe. Both Lacazette and Aubameyang would also break our club record fee. As far as I know Spurs are signing Ndombele, Dybala and Lo Celso for fees north of £50m in one window. Maguire is the latest in a long line of record breaking transfers by Manchester United. Chelsea obviously have a transfer ban but their record with big money signings speaks for itself. These are the clubs we're trying to catch so us breaking the £50m barrier is inevitable.

People will also say "Everton have to get top six spending that type of money" as well, but that's horseshit as well. I want to see us push on into that group, but I'm not having that inevitable criticism thrown at us if we sign one player for £70m when the clubs we are trying to catch have been doing that for at least the last two years on a semi-regular basis.

That's true as well and I think it's largely borne out of the way Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea all finished towards last season - plenty, myself included are probably guilty of under-rating them. They also still comfortably blow everyone else in the league out of the water for transfer and wage budgets so I think placing a demand on Everton, or Leicester, or Wolves to make the top six is just a bit silly unless either of us went and spent absolutely obscene money, and I mean legitimately outspendng these sides which is just a pipedream.

[RandoEFC+]

[RandoEFC+]

Fair play to Palace for sticking to their guns and fair play to us for not caving in and panicking to meet their valuation.

[LFCMadLad]

41 minutes ago, ... said:

 

Expect Palace to still struggle. One man team and that one man doesn't want to be there. 

And hes not even that good. He is very much a flash in the pan player, big fish in a small pond. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

Just now, LFCMadLad said:

And hes not even that good. He is very much a flash in the pan player, big fish in a small pond. 

Nah he's developed so much since his first move away from Palace and his time with United. Before he was very raw, but his decision making was... wonky. But with experience, he's developed into a very good winger, imo, and you can tell he's very good because anyone who's watched Palace for the last few years knows how vital he is to them, so every side they're up against knows "we need to stop Zaha" and despite that he keeps being that one man that routinely is at the heart of basically all good attacking play for his club. I think that makes him different to those players, in my mind they're usually strikers, that do well at some sides when the side is entirely built around them... and then when they finally move to a big club they look shit because they've been asked to done more. I think with modern day Zaha, if you'd put him into a big side, he wouldn't look like he did when he first left United - provided that side could actually give him more attacking support that Palace currently does. I think you'd actually be asking him to do less, but doing more of what he's good at.

I'm glad Everton didn't sign him. I like Zaha, he's a very good player and in my eyes him and Richarlison on either side of Kean is a much better attack on paper than I've probably ever seen from Everton in my lifetime. 

[RandoEFC+]

I agree, now that we're not going to sign him, that he's overrated and a flash in the pan player. 

[LFCMadLad]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Nah he's developed so much since his first move away from Palace and his time with United. Before he was very raw, but his decision making was... wonky. But with experience, he's developed into a very good winger, imo, and you can tell he's very good because anyone who's watched Palace for the last few years knows how vital he is to them, so every side they're up against knows "we need to stop Zaha" and despite that he keeps being that one man that routinely is at the heart of basically all good attacking play for his club. I think that makes him different to those players, in my mind they're usually strikers, that do well at some sides when the side is entirely built around them... and then when they finally move to a big club they look shit because they've been asked to done more. I think with modern day Zaha, if you'd put him into a big side, he wouldn't look like he did when he first left United - provided that side could actually give him more attacking support that Palace currently does. I think you'd actually be asking him to do less, but doing more of what he's good at.

I'm glad Everton didn't sign him. I like Zaha, he's a very good player and in my eyes him and Richarlison on either side of Kean is a much better attack on paper than I've probably ever seen from Everton in my lifetime. 

It's hard to judge when a good player is at a shite club. I mean, obviously hes going to do some good things when absolutely everything goes through him. You put him in a very good team though where other players will be demanding the ball and he might not look so good. 

It wasnt that long ago there was a fairly big discussion on here about Zaha and the general consensus was that hes very poor defensively, fails to track back, isn't great at finishing, but can produce a moment of magic now and again. 

That's how I see him in general. Good player on his day but not not good enough for a big club, hence why no big clubs are arsed about him. 

[6666]

31 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I agree, now that we're not going to sign him, that he's overrated and a flash in the pan player. 

I agree. Biggest diver in the league as well.

[CaaC (John)+]

Ivory Coast winger Wilfried Zaha, 26, will be staying at Crystal Palace until at least the January transfer window after chairman Steve Parrish said he would not sanction a move to a European club. (Express)