Ornstein: £80m star wants to join Arsenal as Emery plots triple swoop

Managers are working hard trying to strengthen their squads during the summer transfer window so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip from around the globe. Today, Wilfried Zaha is keen to join Arsenal….

Wilfried Zaha is keen to join Arsenal this summer as Unai Emery eyes three new arrivals but Crystal Palace are demanding up to £80m for the talented winger, according to the BBC.

Emery is looking to overhaul his squad over the coming weeks following a disappointing campaign that saw Arsenal miss out on the top four in the Premier League and lose to Chelsea in the Europa League final.

The Gunners boss needs to add some width to his ranks and Zaha has been touted as a key target after starring for Crystal Palace last season with 10 goals and 5 assists to help them secure their top flight status with a 13th-placed finish.

BBC journalist David Ornstein has now claimed that Zaha wants to leave Selhurst Park this summer in search of a new challenge and he says the tricky attacker is keen to secure a move to Arsenal.

However, a deal isn’t going to be straightforward as Ornstein claims Palace are reluctant to let Zaha leave after agreeing to sell Aaron Wan-Bissaka to Manchester United and have slapped an £80m price-tag on the wingers head.

That valuation will prove extremely difficult for Arsenal to meet. The BBC journalist says the Gunners would have been confident of landing Zaha had we qualified for the Champions League but our failure to do so has left Emery working on a tight budget [around £45m] which puts him out of reach unless we raise further funds through player sales.

Worryingly for Arsenal fans, Ornstein suggests that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could be the most salable asset but no doubt Emery would be reluctant to lose his top scorer, even if Zaha was signed as his replacement.

Arsenal may try to drive Palace’s asking price down but with Man Utd due 25% of any future sale after including the sell-on clause in the deal that saw Zaha leave Old Trafford in 2015, the Eagles are unlikely to lower their demands too much.

Emery would be willing to raise extra fund by selling Mesut Ozil or Henrikh Mkhitaryan but there is very little interest in either player due to their huge wage demands so it will be interesting to see how Arsenal move forward with their interest in Zaha but the 26-year-old would be a superb signing if we could somehow pull it off.

Emery is also on the look out for a new left-back and Ornstein says Arsenal remain in talks to sign Celtic star Kieran Tierney with the Daily Mail reporting that we’ll submit an improved £19m offer soon after seeing two previous bids knocked back.

READ –> Arsenal transfer news

The BBC reporter also claims we’re in negotiations with Saint-Etienne to sign highly-rated centre-back William Saliba as Emery looks to firm up his defence following another disappointing campaign at the back.

So it looks like Arsenal are targetting at least three new players this summer and I think it would be excellent business if we could land Zaha, Tierney and Saliba but we’ll have to sell some players if we’ve got a chance of affording all three targets.