15 Nov 2012

'We've had bids' - Boss confirms offers for 'extraordinary' £20m wing target. LFC?

Crystal Palace co-Chairman Steve Parish has confirmed that the South London club has received offers for coveted winger Wilfred Zaha, but he maintains that the 20-year old - who is wanted by a whole host of clubs including Liverpool and Arsenal - will not be allowed to leave in January.

In an interview with Weekend Sports Breakfast, Parish insisted that Zaha is 'happy' at Crystal Palace, and admitted that the club is 'anxious to hold onto him'. He added:

“We’ve had a couple of opportunistic bids, but none that you would really take seriously.

"We’ll be sitting down with Wilf’s representatives. We’ll make sure he stays in January and we’ll have another look at it in the summer.

“He’s on a five-year deal. We need to keep him happy. I completely understand that. Hopefully, if we’re in the Premier League, we can be the next stage of his development".


Liverpool were linked with a move for Zaha in the January 2012 transfer window, and in a recent interview, former Palace Manager Dougie Freedman raved about Zaha's 'huge potential' and 'wonderful technique', but also admitted that it will be hard to hold onto the youngster.

Last month, Parish slapped a massively inflated price tag on Zaha, who he described as an 'extraordinary talent'. He told the Daily Mail:

"I said at the start of the season that keeping hold of Wilf would be like spending a lot of money on a transfer. Other sides can fly their kites but it would take £20m before we even got interested".

£20m for a 19-year old who has never played in the Premier League? Totally ridiculous, and it will never happen. Indeed, I doubt Zaha is too impressed to see Palace basically pricing him out of a dream move to one of England's top clubs.

Despite Parish's unrealistic transfer bravado, he recently admitted that the club may have no choice but to sell:

"I guess for a club like Palace, everyone's got a price. It's a horrible thing to say in a way because we'd love to see a team succeed with the youth of the area at the heart of the team. Fingers crossed, we don't get a big offer for Wilfried or Jonny [Williams] that we're forced to consider"

Zaha has 4 goals and 4 assists in 16 games for Palace this season. Good, but not worth £20m (!)



Jaimie Kanwar


33 comments:

  1. Ridiculous! Is he better than Sterling et Suso?? Mtcheeww. He'll hand a transfer request when he realizes himself cos his way to stardom is being blocked.

    ReplyDelete
  2. love all the comments from people who have never seen him play

    ReplyDelete
  3. not another for the future what about someone for now!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. While it's understandable hat Palace want to get as much for him as they can, we won't be the club spending 20m on him. He actually wouldn't be the first player who's considered highly talented, moves to one of the few clubs who can afford ridiculous transfer fees and ruins his career. Victor Moses choose a very clever path though, moving to one of the not so big clubs to get some Premiership experience despite (alleged) interest from bigger clubs. Palace should be careful not to price him out of such a move.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jason I'm with you mate We need someone for now! I guess the reality is that potential is a lot cheaper than a proven striker. Whichis why our scouting team need to pull their finger out!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well, nobody has actually ever seen him play in the Prem.

    ReplyDelete
  7. May I add to that that non-English is cheaper than English. They are asking for 20m for one for the future because he's English. That would actually buy one or two proven players from elsewhere in the world.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Why should Palace be 'careful not to price him out of such a move'? Palace have openly said they will let him go when the time and money is right, but we aren't holding the kid hostage. He has said he is happy in South London, where he has grown up, and will move when he wants - he's in no rush.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 'His way to stardom'?? He's played 100 professional games and be selected to play for England. Hardly seems like his route to stardom has been blocked so far.

    The £20m comment is to ensure we get value for him. Not price him out of a move.

    And he absolutely is better than Suso.

    When he moves, he'll go to a decent Premiership team like United, Arsenal or Spurs, not mid-table fodder like Liverpool.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This article is poorly researched garbage.

    He isn't being 'priced out of a dream move to one of England's top clubs.' Palace have said they will sell him when the time is right. Just trying to get value and inflate the price like any chairman would.

    And to suggest that Zaha will get annoyed by that? You obviously know nothing about the kid - he has always said that he wants to help Palace, not bolt at the first opportunity. Of course he wants to move to the Premier League, but he still loves Palace and has said he would be happy to stay until the summer.

    ReplyDelete
  11. dont mind spending on potential if your first team squad is strong and you can afford it but the best young players dont come cheap and we dont have money to spare

    ReplyDelete
  12. You are probably English so your opinion counts more than mine, but an English club should have English players? I know that recent buys turned out to be wrong, but this kid looks like he could contribute right away, and surely is one for the future- think we should go for him(of course only after buying a proven goalscorer).
    Happy to see young English players coming through academy-that is the right way to do it, but for some you just have to brake the bank...

    ReplyDelete
  13. dont blame you for wanting as much as you can get for him i am sure as a lfc fan when the vultures come crawling for suarez if he gos i will want the same but better than suso dont think so personally for me you can keep him and mid table fodder harsh but true

    ReplyDelete
  14. Asking for 20m sounds a bit like holding the kid hostage to me.

    ReplyDelete
  15. break the bank they will want at least 10 million for him its hardley cheap and hes come through someone elses academy they have invested in him they are entitled to do what they want with him unless he runs his contract out like lfc lets happen then they can do what they want

    ReplyDelete
  16. In the 10 minutes I saw of him last night, Sterling looked a better player.
    I think the Swedes decided to crunch him as he is young and tricky and he was at fault with the first goal.
    If England had not made all the substitutions they did they would of won the match. Think Joe Hart's cocky mentality is catching up with him, quite a few bloopers for City and England now.
    Thought Gerrard and Osman played well together and Sterling linked up with Baines well, maybe a cheeky bid to Everton for the two of them haha

    ReplyDelete
  17. The problem with any club outside of the Billionaire teams is they cannot hang onto their players once City and Chelsea wave their cheque books.
    No matter how much you want to hold onto him he will leave eventually sooner rather than later. For the sake of a team like Palace I hope he stays as long as he can.
    On the radio up here today it said City are ready to bid 40m for Suarez in January and Chelsea 30m for Fellaini in Jan.
    IF they go depends on the clubs resolve and the players desires.
    Everton have already seen the likes of Rooney, Arteta, Lescott and Rodwell leave for decent money though the club fought to keep them apart from Rodewell and Liverpool these days are getting in the same boat as Everton, lack of success on the pitch means the better players are targets for the wealthier and more successful clubs.
    He probably would prefer a move to a London club as that is where he is from.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Think he is worth it because him and Sterling will be ones that will save England in Rio. You didn't have these kind of wingers in decades, I think. Milner kind a players are all right when you have Beckham, Lampard and Gerrard in their prime, but with two of them, I wouldn't start him ever again... I know he saves Johnson in defense and all, but concede one and score two - that is better than losing on penalties...

    ReplyDelete
  19. As a season ticket holder at Palace, I think Ihave a right to comment, after seeing 75 of his 104 games for us
    Zaha is worth 20 mil to us at present.
    As a a team we have a better opportunity to go up with him, than without him.
    Promotion means 100mil over a 3 year period, so we would need to be compensated for this

    If we are not in the shake up come january he would go with our blessing, but it looks as though we will be
    .
    If come May and we do not get promotion once again zaha will go with our blessing, but if we do get promoted he will play for a team that will worship him in the premiership. Come Jan 2014 and we are struggling in the Prem the board will let him go.
    The kid has just turned 20 on saturday and he is the best talent we have had since Moses Wright and for me Don Rogers
    I absoulutely love watching him play and cannot wait for saturday to come......

    ReplyDelete
  20. Can we compensate you with Joe Cole and Henderson? Just kiddin, don't get insulted...

    ReplyDelete
  21. Zaha is a little goldmine for Palace and he is the reason we will get promoted this year. Not necessarily because of what he achieves, but because he distracts three or four defenders whilst the rest of the team score. If Zaha goes we could still get promoted. If he stays we could still fail to get promoted. Either way we should be looking at bringing in a good sum of money and that is what a little club like ours needs.

    Zaha proved last night that as good as he is he can't yet pick out a player and cross the ball very well. I don't want to see him rush off without developing properly, but at the same time we are not teaching him those areas of the game. I don't think he would go to Liverpool as there is too much competition and money spent on wingers that aren't even playing. Fair?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Last night proved nothing about Zaha, either way. He came on in the 85th minute on his debut on the international stage, a stage where even a lot of England's experienced players have barely looked comfortable in in the last decade. Hardly the amount of game time to prove where he is at in his development. Judge him for what he has done in his club career, not on some 10 minute run out on his debut on the international stage.

    Back it up with his club performances, your criticism or praise, but come on, not a 10 minute run out on his international debut. That is just harsh.

    ReplyDelete
  23. '10 minutes'....exactly, a mere 10 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Somewhere along the line the FA and fifa are going to have to address this problem of player poaching especially the real young players still in development stages,do these lads not realize they mean nothing to their agents but money?.There should be more regulation,if a player gets signed for 3 yrs for X amount of money,if for whatever reason he/she decides they want to leave before,then the agent should make no more than his original commission as they have not invested any money in the players development.I think the epl is on a spiral and its not going up.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I have never seen Zaha play but from what I have read he is a very different player to both Sterling and Suso. Not necessarily better or worse, although certainly not yet proven in the Premier League. Crystal Palace are right to talk up the price, however realistically speaking I think we are looking more at a price of £8 million with add-ons.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Poorly written article. Yes he will leave Palace but only for a big club. Liverpool are no longer a big club. Evidence for this? Your manager saying if you finish 8th or above it will be a huge success. More evidence? The amount of wins you've had this season? more evidence? Apart from suarez and an aging gerrard, your squad lol.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Even if I was English, which I am not, my opinion would be worth just as much as yours.

    Back in the 80ies we've hardly had any English players. I can recall one final, can't remember whether it was a European Cup final or FA Cup final, we've had zero Englishman in our team. All Scots, Welshmen, Irishmen, Aussies, Danes and such. So, while I surely get your point that English clubs should employ English players, Liverpool has quite some tradition in not having too many Englishmen on board. Even the city of Liverpool itself as a harbour town has had much influx from all over the place in it's history.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Nothing's gonna save England in Rio, well, nothing but a miracle.

    ReplyDelete
  29. May we put Downing into this compensation packet, too.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Completely understand your stance and you can have 20m for him, but it don't think that we are currently in a situation to spend 20m on a 20 year old. Those few clubs who could afford such a fee may well be the wrong move for him at such a young age as he may not get as much playing time there as he would like.

    ReplyDelete
  31. About this time last year I read an article about Zaha written by a Palace supporter and he pointed out exactly what you said. He can't pick out a player and doesn't cross very well. No end-product so to speak.

    Too much competition at Liverpool? I think Zaha would get lots of playing time here. Keeping Downing and Cole out of the squad is not that difficult.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Well, British count too, in my opinion...
    I am from a city that won domestic league(waterpolo) with only players and coaches from the city itself- and I am extremely proud of that fact- guess I am too romantic about sport...

    ReplyDelete
  33. In an ideal world all the teams would only contain local players, but this one isn't an ideal world, at least in football. Players go where they earn most.

    ReplyDelete