Arsenal have tabled a £40m bid for Crystal Palace attacker Wilfried Zaha, according to Sky Sports journalist Kaveh Solhekol.
However, a deal could be very hard to complete with a report from the Sun saying that Palace don’t want to sell Zaha, who they rate at £80m anyway.
One thing is working in Arsenal’s favour – Solhekol claims that Zaha wants a move to Arsenal this summer.
Solhekol made the claim on his personal Twitter page on Monday afternoon.
Arsenal make £40m bid for Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha. Zaha wants to move to Arsenal
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) July 1, 2019
Good move for Arsenal?
It depends. Zaha would add even more quality to an Arsenal side that already boasts two of the best strikers in the Premier League, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. But that isn’t really where the issues lie for the Gunners. Their defence was awful last season. Arsenal conceded 51 goals in the league, more than anyone else in the top 10 bar Man United and West Ham. Man City and Liverpool only let in 23 and 22 respectively at the top of the table. Emery reportedly only has £40m to spend all summer, so even if Palace let him go for that amount he’d be scrapping around for new defenders in the bargain bin and that wouldn’t bode well for next season. Would it be a good move if they sold someone like Aubameyang? We don’t think so, especially when you did into some underwhelming numbers. Zaha scored 10 goals in the league last season but had an xG of just 6.49, giving him an xG90 of just 0.19. That’s compared with an xG90 of 0.77 for Aubameyang and 0.43 for Lacazette [Understat.com].
This is Futbol rating: 5/10
Likely to happen?
Not without a long, protracted saga that would see Palace try to get as much money from Arsenal as possible, and when they’re valuing him at £80million, the two clubs are a massive distance apart at the moment. Add to the mix that they don’t want to sell because chairman Steve Parish thinks his loss could put off new investors in the club. They’re also under no imperative to sell because of the £45million they’ve made from selling Aaron Wan-Bissaka to Man United. It doesn’t look good for Arsenal at the moment. The only glimmer of hope is that lifelong Arsenal fan Zaha wants to move to north London. But how much pressure will he really be willing to put on his club to try and force the move through?
This is Futbol rating: 3/10