Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are set to go head-to-head to sign Wilfried Zaha from Crystal Palace in the summer
According to a report in The Sun, Wilfried Zaha will be the subject of a transfer tug of war between Arsenal and Tottenham in the summer transfer window, with both clubs eager to sign the Crystal Palace forward.
Zaha’s career is on an upward trajectory again after it looked to be heading nowhere at Manchester United. Back to his boyhood club though, and Zaha has looked every bit the player who became Sir Alex Ferguson’s last signing as the Manchester United manager.
In fact, playing week in week out has done him a world of good as he has arguably improved significantly since his return to Selhurst Park. Now a mainstay in attack, Zaha has only missed three matches due to his commitments at the Africa Cup of Nations.
His numbers make for good reading though, as he has scored six goals beside providing eleven assists in 33 Premier League outings. And having enjoyed quite a fruitful campaign with Palace, he is starting to attract the attention of the Premier League biggies once again.
Liverpool and Manchester City have recently expressed an interest in signing Zaha in the summer, but it now seems like Arsenal and Tottenham have taken a lead in what looks likely to become a straight head-to-head battle to secure his services.
At Arsenal, what looked like a promising campaign in the first half of the season has petered out horribly and there are genuine chances that they will fail to qualify for the Champions League for the first time under Arsene Wenger.
While the failure can be attributed to the failures of each and every department, attack has played a big part too. To make matters worse, the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lucas Perez are all being linked with summer exit from the Emirates.
Thus, an attacking reinforcement could become a big priority for the Arsenal boss in the summer, and Zaha presents himself with a viable option worth considering. But, they are likely to face a tough battle from their North London rivals, Tottenham, in pursuit of Zaha.
In fact, Tottenham have been long-time admirers of Zaha’s talents, with Mauricio Pochettino believed to be keen to take the 24-year-old under his tutelage. The Argentine has been known to work wonders with the talents of promising young players, with Eric Dier and Dele Alli being his two shining examples.
Zaha is another player who possesses bagful of talents and has the potential to turn into a truly top class winger, if he gets the right guidance. As far as Tottenham are concerned, Zaha’s addition will introduce a lot of pace and directness that will help them add more versatility to their attack.
So, Arsenal and Tottenham could both do with a player of Zaha’s calibre and are set to battle it out to sign him in the summer. It is believed that Palace would be happy to sell the player for £30 million and it remains to be seen if one North London club can trump the other in Zaha’s pursuit.