With Wilfred Zaha entering the last 6 months of his contract with Crystal Palace, it is hardly surprising to see him linked again with a move away from Selhurst Park this summer.
Spurs have tried for Zaha several times in the past, most notably having a derisory bid knocked back by Palace in the summer of 2016 when Mauricio Pochettino was not wholly convinced about Heung-min Son would you believe!
According to Stan Collymore, Zaha would be the perfect signing for a club in ”the second tier’ of European competition, a category which he duly places Tottenham Hotspur (cheers Stan!):
“He’s a tier-two player and what I mean by that is, he’s best suited to competitions such as the Europa League,” Collymore told CaughtOffside yesterday.
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s done fantastically during his two spells at Crystal Palace but I actually think if he does move, he’d prefer to stay in London anyway.
“Spurs could be an option for him and he’d be available on a free transfer so he’d fit the criteria of any club that has to work within the confines of a smaller budget.
“I like the look of Brentford for him though. They’re a club that are trying to take the next step. They’ll be looking at the Europa Conference and Europa League places and thinking they’ve got a real chance, so to bring in a player like Zaha would signal progress, not only for Thomas Frank and the club but also for the player himself.”
Despite Palace now being able to boast a whole host of attacking options in addition to Zaha, such as the enigmatic Eberichi Eze and the talented Michael Olise, the Ivorian still very much remains Palace’s talisman, with the Eagles only managing to win 4 of the past 30 matches that Zaha has missed (figures via the Evening Standard).
The Eagles will now have to do without him for the vast majority of February, with the 30-year-old expected to miss the next few weeks with a hamstring injury he sustained in last month’s 0-0 draw with Newcastle United.
It will therefore be interesting to see how the South Londoners do without him in the coming weeks as they prepare for an inevitable life without Zaha.
As for Spurs. the club’s statement on last year’s financial results yesterday indicated that the club would maintain their traditionally cautious approach to recruitment by looking to recruit more cleverly for less money, and on a free transfer, the club can certainly do far worse than sign a player of Zaha’s ilk, particularly with doubts surrounding the long-term futures of Lucas Moura and Bryan Gil.
Spurs fans – would you like to see the club make a move for Zaha in the summer? Have your say on the matter by visiting the Vital Spurs fan forum here.