Arsenal

Transfer News: Interest Grows In £20m-Rated Youngster

Manchester United have joined Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool in the race to sign highly-rated Crystal Palace attacker Wilfred Zaha

by
Football Talk
November 1, 2012

Despite the transfer window being closed, there is always transfer gossip doing the rounds in the papers and we’ll keep you up-to-date with the latest news during the coming months. Today, Man Utd join the race to sign Wilfred Zaha.

Manchester United have joined Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham and Liverpool in the race to sign Crystal Palace attacker Wilfred Zaha, according to the Daily Mail.

Zaha is regarded as one of the most highly-rated youngsters outside of the Premier League after breaking in to the Crystal Palace team in 2010 aged just 17.

The 19-year-old has now clocked-up over 100 appearances for the Championship side, scoring 14 goals in the process, and his impressive form has attracted interest from a number of Premiership sides with Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City all scouting the player in recent months.

Manchester United are the latest team to show an interest with Sir Alex Ferguson instructing his scouts to run-the-rule over the gifted attacker over the coming weeks.

However, Palace co-owner Steve Parish has insisted they have no intention of selling their star on the cheap, and told all interested partied it would take an offer in excess of £20m to persuade them into a sale.

‘He is an extraordinary talent. 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.

‘He has got the lot, provided he keeps his feet on the ground and continues working so hard on his game – then it will all come.

‘People would have to compensate us accordingly for losing his talent – that is what a transfer fee is.

‘All the teams have got to understand that you get £60m in TV money if you get into the Premier League, which is where we want to get. So we’d need to be compensated for reducing our chances of getting there.’

Parish is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail

Crystal Palace did well to hang onto Zaha after fending off interest in the summer but they are expected to receive several bids in January when the transfer window re-opens, with all the big-guns ready to test their resolve.

Would you like Zaha at your club? Get involved in the comments section.

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