According to Daily Mail, Napoli are weighing up a £60 million bid to sign Wilfried Zaha. The Crystal Palace winger, who is a target of Arsenal, has become the prime target for Carlo Ancelotti after missing out on Nicolas Pepe this summer. Pepe has now completed his move to the Emirates but despite his addition, will Napoli moving in on Zaha make any difference to Arsenal?
Do Arsenal need any more wingers?
The arrival of Pepe should solve most of Arsenal’s problems in attack as they had mainly lacked the services of a natural winger. Henrikh Mkhitaryan has struggled with form and injuries while Alex Iwobi is still yet to make an impact in the Premier League.
Pepe, in that regard, could be considered as a replacement for Alexis Sanchez. Besides, the Gunners boast the services of a host of talented wingers like Iwobi, Reiss Nelson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Emile Smith-Rowe is also an option, and all of them can be utilised as potential backups for the creative trifecta of Mesut Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Pepe. Hence, it’s probably fair to say that Arsenal are not in apparent need of a new winger now that Pepe has joined the club.
Both Pepe and Zaha occupy the same position
The fact that both Pepe and Zaha are right-wingers, by nature, could create a conflict. And although the latter can also feature on the opposite flank, that position will likely be occupied by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in case of a 4-2-3-1.
Alternatively, Zaha can operate in a central role. But even then, the presence of two prolific attackers in Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette could make things difficult. That is, of course, unless any of those attackers suffer any injury during the 2019/20 campaign.
Arsenal likely don’t have the financial backing
Arsenal have done a pretty good job to settle a five-year instalment deal for Pepe. But, that leaves the Gunners with a minimal budget, meaning funding a move for the £80 million rated Zaha is next to impossible. That is unless, head coach Unai Emery manages to offload a host of unwanted players – a list that includes Ozil and Shkodran Mustafi.
But, that will be a difficult thing to do, with just a little over one week left till the transfer window slams shut in England. Therefore, Napoli’s interest in Zaha won’t really make much of a difference for an Arsenal side that needs to settle a deal for a centre-back during the remainder of the ongoing summer transfer window.
