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| Wilfred Zaha of Crystal Palace looks on during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Selhurst Park on October 18, 2022 in London, England. |
Wilfried Zaha could shun new contract talks and leave Crystal Palace next summer as he looks for a move to a top six club.
The Eagles attacker has once again been one of the club’s most important players so far this season and starred in Tuesday night’s 2-1 win over Wolves at Selhurst Park.
Zaha has been constantly linked with a move away from Crystal Palace, with him being a potential target for Arsenal and more recently tipped for a transfer to north London rivals Spurs.
Talking about the 29-year-old on The Five Podcast, journalist David Ornstein believes that Zaha is now holding out to see what happens, and could leave south London on a free transfer when his contract runs out in 2023.
‘Palace would dearly love to sign Zaha to sign him to a new contract I’m sure. But with free agency looming and he’s never had that big move that many anticipated.
‘Of course he went to Manchester United and it didn’t work out but since then we’ve seen Arsenal linked with him, we’ve seen Tottenham at various points, and we’ve seen Chelsea last summer,’ Ornstein said.
‘That move hasn’t happened. Palace value him so highly as they know without him there’s a good chance they’d be in a relegation scrap. So they’ve always set a very high asking price.
‘There’ll be a number of clubs who will look at him and wonder if they can get him for nothing in the summer of 2023. There’ll be conversations I’m sure. Many in the game feel he’ll hold out and go as a free-agent and play in the Champions League.’
A move to a club playing European football would mark a second chance for the Ivory Coast international, who endured a failed move to Manchester United earlier on in his career.
Zaha moved to Old Trafford from Crystal Palace 2013, but failed to hold onto a regular place. He was farmed out on loan to Cardiff a year later, before returning to Selhurst on another loan and then made the return permanent in 2015.
He has played over 400 times for the London club and is their record goal-scorer in the Premier League with 66 strikes to his name.
