Arsenal

Arsenal To Open Zaha Bidding With £9m January Move

Arsenal will be open the bidding for Man Utd, Man City, Tottenham and Liverpool target Wilfred Zaha, by submitting a £9m offer to Craystal Palace this January

by
Football Talk
November 5, 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, Arsenal to open bidding for Wilfred Zaha.

Arsenal will be open the bidding for sought-after Crystal Palace attacker Wilfred Zaha with a £9m offer this January, according to the Daily Mail.

The Gunners have watched the highly-rated 19-year-old on several occasions this season and chief scout Steve Rowley was in the stands as Zaha impressed against Leicester last week.

The winger is understood to be settled in London and has no immediate desire to move clubs, but the youngster would find it extremely difficult to turn down a big-money move if one of the Premier League’s elite came calling.

A number of clubs have been linked with Zaha, with the Daily Mail reporting last week that Manchester United had joined Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham and Liverpool in the race to sign Crystal Palace attacker.

However, its the Gunners who are ready to make the first move and are lining up a £9m opening bid, with the offer believed to include several performance-related add-ons.

New Palace boss Ian Holloway has admitted Zaha is destined for greatness but is desperate to hang on to the player to help their push for promotion this season, so they won’t give up without a fight.

Chairman Steve Parish has publicly insisted they don’t need to sell and it would take an offer in excess of £20m to persuade them to part with their prized asset, so Arsene Wenger will have to up his initial £9m bid if he’s to have any hope of landing the pacey winger.

However, with both Manchester clubs as well as Liverpool and Tottenham also monitoring his progress, Arsenal are sure to face stiff competition for the player.

Zaha, who grew up as an Arsenal fan, broke into the Palace side aged 17 and has gone on to make over 100 appearances for the club, scoring 14 goals in the process.

Where do you think Zaha will end up? Get involved in the comments section.

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