At the beginning of the season Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha was being mooted for a move to another club. Everton had become the favourites to sign the talented player and then Crystal Palace announced his transfer fee….£80 million.
Everton went quietly when the fee was announced and Zaha stayed with Palace. But now the January transfer window is open, only for another week and the Zaha story is back, and Palace still want £80m. But what has Zaha done to justify the transfer fee? Is he truly worth such a price. True you can understand why Palace would demand a huge fee, the player is an integral part of the team plus a small percentage would have to go to Zaha’s former club Manchester United, but it seems as though Palace are out pricing themselves.
For example if a team abroad showed their interest could Palace keep that same price? How many team supporters of say Juventus or Real Madrid have even heard of Zaha? That is not meant to be shown as a lack of respect to Zaha who has been a constant presence in the Premier League but surely you have to have done something in your career to highlight and warrant such a fee? It feels like Palace’s valuation of the player is based on the money they would lose to Manchester United as part of the agreement of Zaha being sold to them a few seasons ago.
Let’s look at Zaha’s stats: The first is that he is 27 years old and still has not made the impact which changes a team, he does of course have time on his side. If he is sold to a ‘bigger’ team they would get at least 6 good years out of him. But after the fee of £80m Zaha would also demand a very good wage at least £200,000 a week, over six years that would cost the club a further £60m with bonuses. Now we are talking about a transfer in excess of £140m, really, for Zaha?
Though Zaha is classified as a winger, he is an attacking one and manager Roy Hodgson has used the player as a striker, thus he is there to score goals. But in the league he has never scored more than 10 in a season. He currently has 3 goals from 24 games.
In the fantasy rankings Zaha is in 22nd place for Premier League midfielders and also has 2 assists. That means he has been involved in 5 of Crystal Palace’s 22 goals so far, which represents about 25% of their goals.
One also has to remember that Zaha was born in the Ivory Coast but qualified to play for England, but could not make an impact with the national side enough to become a regular. He was able to represent the Ivory Coast and in the end had no choice but to do so if he wanted to play international football.
In conclusion, Zaha is a good player- you don’t get to spend your career in the Premier League if you’re not. But his club are over valuing him for their own financial benefits, and the price being asked for him feels like a joke in truth. Premier League teams when transferring players within the league seem to add on premiums that don’t exist in Serie A or La Liga and one certainly has to question his transfer which would be the equal 10th best in the history of football.
True, where Zaha ends up he could well be a success for his team, but as said above including his wages would cost a new employer £140m. The same player that doesn’t score enough goals, doesn’t provide enough assists and has only won one trophy, the Community Shield.
Palace need a reality check.
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