The names Crystal Palace and Wilfried Zaha go hand in hand. Since starting his career as a youth player for the Eagles, Zaha has gone on to accumulate over 250 appearances for the London based club.
The German heavyweights Borussia Dortmund are said to be keen on the capture of the Ivory Coast winger. Dortmund have been given a boost in their pursuit for the Premier League star as Zaha is believed to have rejected a contract extension with the Eagles. He is presumably confident in his own capabilities and would like to see himself given the opportunity to develop further as a player. Hence, a move away from Selhurst Park should be Zaha’s preferred choice as he looks to take his game to the next level.
Palace had an encouraging campaign last season as the team bettered themselves and finished the season in 11th place, in comparison to the 2016-2017 league positioning where they finished in 14th place. The Eagles had a poor domestic cup run as they came crashing out of both the FA Cup and the EFL Cup in the third round of both competitions.
Zaha had played a key part during their 2017-2018 league campaign scoring 9 goals in 29 appearances. Palace converted the opportunities given to them and racked up 45 goals during the last season. Their defence needs a lot of rebuilding as the team went on to concede 10 goals more than what they had scored. Zaha, however, did not feature in their failed FA Cup and EFL Cup run-ins.
On the other hand, Borussia Dortmund put in a hard fight in their quest to win the DFL Super Cup as they finished as runners-up, eventually losing out to Bayern Munich 5-4 0n penalties. The game had ended all square with both teams scoring two goals each. The DFB Pokal witnessed Dortmund being eliminated in the round of 16 at the hands of Bayern as the Bavarians sealed their passage into the quarterfinals with a 2-1 victory.
Despite being the third highest scoring team in the Bundesliga, Dortmund ended the season in 4th place. Qualification for a place in the Champions League group stages was the only highlight of what can be considered as an overall poor showing from a team that many expected to land some silverware. Elimination in the forgone Champions League group stages and Europa League round of 16 was a major setback for them as well.
With the new season in perspective, both Crystal Palace and Dortmund will be looking for inspiration to make it a better one than the last season. This is where the presence of a player like Zaha comes into play and Crystal Palace should look to keep hold of him under any circumstances.
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Wilfried Zaha is a player who brings quality and flair to any team he features in. Palace must do well to keep hold of him as his presence is crucial for their progress with many Palace fans eagerly praying for him to stay.
