Football transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has delivered an update on Crystal Palace attacker Wilfried Zaha, amid reports linking him with a move to Serie A leaders AC Milan.
It’s been claimed that Milan, as well as Paris Saint-Germain, are showing interest in signing the Ivorian, who has got just over two years remaining on his Palace contract.
Speaking to Give Me Sport, however, Romano addressed those reports and effectively ruled out a move to Milan for the 28-year-old, declaring that the Italian side is not interested in signing him at present and revealing that the rumours linking him with I Rossoneri arose because the player was offered to Italian clubs by an intermediary.
The journalist revealed: “No, he’s been offered to some Italian clubs by some intermediary and we had some rumours because of this. He has been offered but AC Milan are not interested, they are happy with their players and they have Brahim Diaz on loan from Real Madrid. So they still want to go with him, to see his quality and to decide about signing him on a permanent deal next summer or not. So at the moment, Zaha is not a target for AC Milan.”
TIF Thoughts on what Romano said about Zaha…
So, while it seems as though Zaha is not going to be swapping south London for Lombardy to play for Stefano Pioli’s side any time soon, it’s interesting that the journalist has revealed this rumour began as a result of the player being offered to Italian clubs.
Does this suggest that Palace are keen to cash in on the attacker before his contract winds down into its final two years? Perhaps it would make sense if that were the case, given that Zaha is currently valued at £45m by Transfermarkt – just £4.5m lower than his highest ever value according to the website – and he’s now 28 years old.
Knowing that, as a winger/forward, his peak is expected to happen between the ages of 26-28, per Statsbomb, now may be the perfect time to sell for Palace, so that they can part ways with the player before he noticeably declines, potentially resulting in worse performance on the pitch and a lower transfer value.
Should Palace sell Zaha?
YES
NO
It remains to be seen if any club does take up the offer of Zaha and it will be interesting to see if more links emerge concerning the attacker as we get deeper into the January transfer window.
Click here to see the full 30-minute video of Fabrizio Romano’s interview with Give Me Sport