Reports have surfaced that Chelsea are interested in Crystal Palace star winger, Wilfried Zaha along with Manchester City and Arsenal. The Ivorian’s feat for the Eagles recently and for the past season has fallen into the radar of top Premier League managers.
Zaha signed a 5-year deal with Palace last summer and is a crucial component of the team under Roy Hodgson. He registered 7 goals and 11 assists for the Eagles and helped them avoid relegation last season. Palace started the current season poorly heavily affected by the knee injury Zaha was going through. After his recovery and the appointment of Hodgson as head coach, Palace have hit the ground running in recent weeks and sprung themselves out of the relegation zone.
Zaha scored the crucial second goal in their 0-3 win against Leicester City on the weekend. With 4 goals and 1 assist to his name, the 25-year-old is the top scorer for the club this season and hungry to get more.
Chelsea boss, Antonio Conte clearly requires more depth in his squad to contend for multiple trophies in a season. The Blues ran away with the league title last season without the heavy schedule of appearing in a European competition. After a frustrating summer transfer window, Conte has demanded more financial support from the board to keep the club’s and his ambitions alive.
Zaha can be the perfect fit to provide width and pace to the Chelsea attack. With the injury to Alvaro Morata and Michy Batshuayi fallen out of favour, Eden Hazard is mostly fielded in striker position with Willian and Pedro behind him. Conte needs a different component in his attack with Charly Musonda yet to impress in a Chelsea shirt.
Zaha’s previous stint at Manchester United failed largely because of his unstable relationship with the manager, David Moyes. After appearing in only 4 games for the Red Devils, fans and pundits marked him as a bust for an elite side. But ever since returning to Crystal Palace, Zaha has resurrected his career and matured as a leading man for his team.
With multiple alternatives earmarked for a transfer in January, Conte might not be ready to pay to the hefty £40million price tag Crystal Palace are looking demand for the winger. And even then it is even more unlikely if Roy Hodgson will let go his best man up top with the striker, Christian Benteke failing to score goals consistently for the side. He only managed to break his goal-less streak against Leicester last weekend.
