Dan Cook has been speaking on the HLTCO podcast about how it was inevitable Crystal Palace would offer Wilfried Zaha a new deal.
Zaha’s future at Palace was a hot topic during the summer transfer window as he was being tipped with a move away amid interest from Premier League clubs as he is now well and truly into the final 12 months of his contract.
The next time Palace will have a chance to sell the Ivory Coast international will be in January, however, he’ll then be able to sign a pre-contract with clubs outside of England, which could see them miss out on any transfer fee, so offering him a new deal makes a lot of sense.
Cook admitted it was pretty inevitable that this new offer would come from Palace.
“Steve Parish, Dougie Freedman, Patrick Vieira and every other person with a vested interest in Crystal Palace’s long-term wellbeing would love nothing more than for Wilfried Zaha to remain on Crystal Palace’s books throughout the rest of his career and it was inevitable, really, that we would offer him a new long-term contract.
Will Zaha sign a new contract?
Yes!
No!
“I’m not sure of the exact finances of it, it’s just been reported in a couple of publications over the last 24 hours, there are no specific details, although you would imagine it will maintain his status as the club’s highest earner and I dare say it will be for another four or five years.”
TIF Thoughts on Zaha’s Palace future…
The winger has spent the majority of his career at Selhurst Park aside from a rather forgettable spell at Manchester United and a loan stint with Cardiff City, so he is certainly going to go down as a Palace legend having helped them rise to the Premier League and then stay there.
Zaha is now the club’s all-time leading scorer in the Premier League and is also their all-time top appearance maker in the Premier League era, so when he does depart, it will be a rather sad day.
It’s not just his goals and assists – which have only got better over the last few seasons – that will be missed, but also the character he is and the fact he’s come through the club’s ranks, as he will understand what the place and fans are all about and he clearly thrives off of that energy.
So it is certainly positive that the Eagles are doing all they can to persuade the Ivorian to see out his career in SE25.