With a market value of 22 million euros, Wilfried Zaha is one of the most valuable professionals who are currently without a club. The 30-year-old forward let his contract at Crystal Palace expire and now faces a landmark decision. According to that “Guardians” the Ivorian wants to have this felled after his honeymoon. The choices are: staying with the “Eagles” and signing a record contract from the club’s point of view – or a transfer, for which there are several options.
At the end of April, the newspaper reported that Zaha could sign a four-year contract and be paid £200,000 a week from the summer. That would make him by far the highest-paid professional in club history. What stands in the way of a commitment is the lack of belief that Palace has a lot to gain in the short term. The South London club, which has been represented in the Premier League for eleven years, finished the past season in eleventh place – since promotion in 2013 it has never been enough for a single-digit place in the table.
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The player’s management is said to have held talks with SSC Napoli, Paris Saint-Germain and Galatasaray in the past few days. In addition, Zaha would have offers from Lazio, Fenerbahce and Al-Nassr. It is considered likely that the veteran will reject the highly paid offer from Saudi Arabia – with a salary of 30 million euros per season (around 35 million euros). A move to Italy or Turkey is still conceivable despite significantly lower salaries.
For a sequel in England, Zaha is asking Crystal Palace for greater ambition and a chance to play in European competitions. In principle, however, he is open to staying with his training club. Appropriately, coach Roy Hodgson has formulated a place in the top half of the table as a goal. Zaha left Palace for Manchester United in 2013 for €11.75m, and has been under permanent contract with the Eagles since early 2015. In a total of 458 competitive games, he delivered 90 goals and 76 assists.
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