Dan Cook has been speaking about Wilfried Zaha’s Crystal Palace future on the HLTCO podcast.
There is usually talk during most transfer windows about Zaha and whether he will be leaving Crystal Palace, however, now into the final year of his contract, this could end up being the time he finally departs Selhurst Park for a second time.
Reports had suggested that Zaha was admired by AS Roma and former Premier League boss Jose Mourinho, however, the Serie A side are now closing in on the signing of Paulo Dybala as a free agent, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Cook believes that transfer could benefit Palace and help them keep Zaha – at least for now.
He said: “I wouldn’t have thought that the fee that Crystal Palace would be looking for is anything close to what Roma would be happy to pay, and with that in mind, it’s probably not indirectly linked that Paulo Dybala, the Juventus player who is out of contract this summer, has now been offered a contract by Roma until 2025.
Will Zaha sign a new contract at Palace?
Yes!
No!
“I believe, according to Fabrizio Romano, the wage packet that is being offered to Dybala by Roma totals around €6m a year and I think there is a degree of confidence from Rome that he will put pen to paper on a deal there.
“You would assume that that pursuit of Dybala will sort of throw a major spanner in the works in relation to any efforts from Roma to land Wilfried Zaha this summer.”
TIF Thoughts on Zaha’s future…
The fact that Roma have managed to convince someone of Dybala’s quality and stature within the game is a serious coup for Mourinho’s team, and if his wage packet is to be believed, it would be very unlikely that they’d also fund a move for Zaha.
This could well point towards the Ivorian – who’s not been away on Crystal Palace’s pre-season tour – staying with the Eagles, as there have been very few rumours linking him elsewhere, so he may decide to assess his options in January and potentially line up a move as a free agent next summer if he does indeed stay put at Selhurst Park in the short term.