Arsenal accused of underhand tactics in bid to sign Zaha on the cheap

Wilfried Zaha

Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has suggested Arsenal comfortably have enough money in the bank to meet the Eagles’ asking price for Wilfried Zaha this summer.

The Gunners had a reported £40million bid for Zaha rejected earlier in the summer with The Sun saying Arsenal wanted to pay the fee over five years while asking for ‘a hefty discount’ if they managed to reimburse Crystal Palace early.

It’s claimed Palace value the star at nearer the £80million mark and it was little wonder to see their initial offer dismissed out of the hand by the Eagles, despite a plea from the Ivory Coast forward’s brother.

The Gunners though refused to give up and reportedly offered up to three players in part-exchange for the Ivory Coast international winger.

Again that appeared to fall short, with Eagles manager Roy Hodgson admitting their approach fell a long way short of their own valuation of the player.

“I don’t think Arsenal have actually made a bid that has come anywhere near our valuation,” Hodgson told Sky Sports.

“I’m sure the player realises that if someone’s going to take him away from us, he’ll expect clubs to pay the market value. Until someone does that, there’s not much to discuss regarding Wilf.”

The Gunners have since come back with a third bid – but again it fell well short of Palace’s expectations – with Arsenal forward Reiss Nelson this time offered on loan as part of the package.

And their tactics in trying to sign Zaha on the cheap have been met with plenty of criticism from Jordan, who insists Arsenal have a history of trying to swindle Palace.

“Arsenal are not playing properly,” Jordan said during an appearance on talkSPORT. “I don’t think they played particularly properly when they bought Ian Wright in 1991, and I don’t think they are playing properly now for different reasons.

“If they can afford to pay £27million for a player and send him back on loan [William Saliba], they can afford to play £60/70million for Wilfried Zaha.”

“Is it the right time for Palace and Zaha? I think it probably is, in a perverse way.

“Because Palace are now becoming a side that are really built around Zaha and I don’t think for the long-term benefit of Crystal Palace they can afford to rely simply on Zaha.

“You’ve got to get £60million plus for him… you’ve got to! He’s every bit as good as Mahrez.

“They are going to lose a lot by losing Zaha, but I don’t think they are going to keep him so they have to move on.”

 

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