Tottenham Hotspur are plotting a move for Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha next summer. According to recent reports, Spurs are preparing an offer for the Ivory Coast international when the summer transfer window opens at the end of the season. It is believed that the North London outfit are ready to make a £40m for the 25-year-old forward in the summer.
However, it won’t be easy to convince the Eagles as they will argue that Zaha is worth significantly more than what Spurs are willing to offer, especially considering the role that he has played in their battle for survival. Roy Hodgson’s men have tasted defeat in every league game they have played without Zaha this season which adds up to nine in total. The Eagles steered clear of the relegation zone once again when the winger completed his return from a knee injury in Saturday’s 2-0 victory at John Smith’s Stadium versus Huddersfield Town, his first start since the first week of February.
Chelsea has also kept tabs on the Ivory Coast winger, who is set to depart the club if Palace suffers the agony of relegation this season. Spurs have been in pursuit of Zaha’s signature for quite some time. They made an offer of £12m in the summer of 2016, a bid which the Eagles chairman Steve Parish blasted as ‘ridiculous’. The North Londoners went back in with another bid of £21m but that was also declined.
Zaha’s contract with Palace is set to run out in the summer of 2022 and the 25-year-old is currently earning around £100,000 a week.
Spurs are currently in 4th place in the Premier League standings, just five points above fifth-placed Chelsea FC with just 8 league matches to go. The North London side are hoping to finish in the top 4 places so as to ensure Champions League football for the next term. They earned a valuable 4-1 victory at the Vitality Stadium courtesy of a Heung-Min Son brace and a goal each from Dele Alli and Serge Aurier against the Cherries in their last league outing.
However, Spurs are still an enormous 20 points behind the league leaders Manchester City and are in dire need to bring in some quality players next summer in order to bridge the gap between themselves and their top 4 competitors in the coming years. The addition of Zaha will undoubtedly bolster Mauricio Pochettino’s attacking options next season. The 25-year-old has scored 4 goals and provided 3 assists in 22 appearances for the Eagles this season in all competitions.
It remains to be seen what lies ahead in the future of Zaha and whether he ends up moving to North London in the near future.
