Sky Sports pundit Danny Mills has expressed concerns over the possibility of Everton signing Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha during the summer transfer window.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Toffees have been touted as a potential destination for Zaha this summer should the Ivory Coast forward depart Selhurst Park, with reports claiming the Blues have requested the Eagles keep us updated on any developments.
This follows suggestions Roy Hodgson’s south London outfit are willing to sell their prized asset after Zaha made it clear he wishes to quit the club, as they look to stem the financial impact caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.
A potential hiccup to any deal is that we are no longer willing to break the bank to land Zaha, and will only pursue the £125,000-per-week attacker if Crystal Palace lower their valuation that prevented a move from occurring last summer.
Everton were touted as lodging a £55million offer for the 27-year-old last July and saw a later bid of £70m plus striker Cenk Tosun and midfielder James McCarthy rebuffed, as Palace held firm at demanding no less than £80m in cash.
It remains to be seen if we return to the negotiating table and attempt to thrash out a move for Zaha, but Mills is hesitant to believe the chances are great as Palace will still be expected to value the attacker highly.
“Well, they [Everton]’ve got Bernard and they’ve got Richarlison, certainly he [Zaha] would add to the quality they’ve got already,” Mills told Football Insider. “But the problem for Zaha is has he priced himself out of move? That’s the issue.
“Is anybody going to spend that £70m, £80m, £90m on him? Probably not at the moment. He’s an exceptionally good player but would they gamble after he went to Manchester United and it didn’t quite work.
“His wages will be incredibly high, so it’s a big gamble and a big financial commitment for any football club to take. It’s just the price tag. If it was £30m or £40m, then you’d pay it without a doubt. The fact it might be £70m you go: ‘Ooh, that’s a little bit more than we’d like to pay’.”
Would you like to see Zaha signed this summer?
Yes
No
Mills’ apprehension to spend big on Zaha is very well placed in the current climate, which saw Everton walk away from negotiations with LOSC Lille over a deal for defender Gabriel Magalhaes as the post-Covid world has left the club’s finances in a very different place.
On top of that, Zaha suffered a rather underwhelming return in the Premier League last term on the back of the standout campaign which led to our interest in a deal that could have been worth more than £70m altogether.
In 2018/19, he struck a staggering ten goals and ten assists in the Premier League but was only able to follow that with four goals and five assists last term. Zaha has further only managed to lash the back of the net once in his last 21 outings in the top-flight.
What could make Palace feel confident in harbouring a high valuation for Zaha is that he still managed to impress in the Premier League last season with his dribbling, with only Wolves’ Adama Traore recording a higher number of successful attempts (183) as the Ivorian (163). The Eagles star also played 37 key balls, created four big chances to score, delivered 19 accurate crosses, took 39 shots and won a division-high 325 ground duels, per SofaScore.
It remains to be seen if our interest is genuine this year, but Zaha would certainly be a worthwhile addition so long as the price is reasonable.