Wilfried Zaha begs to leave Crystal Palace as Eagles prepare for final Everton offer on deadline day

1/12
Giuseppe Muro8 August 2019

Wilfried Zaha’s transfer request has left Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish facing major dilemma over whether to stand firm over the winger or sell him to Everton.

Zaha begged Palace to let him join Everton, leaving Parish with a test of nerve as the Toffees prepared to return with an improved offer before the 5pm deadline.

Parish has not wavered all summer in his stance that Zaha would not be sold unless the Eagles received an offer above £80million. Palace turned down two bids from Everton before today and one of their main concerns was how they could replace their star player before the new season.

But Zaha handed in a transfer request in an attempt to force a move and Everton’s ambitious owner Farhad Moshiri was expected to return with an improved offer today.

Zaha has handed in a transfer request.
PA

It left Parish weighing up whether to maintain his strong stance by keeping an unhappy player, or sell Zaha knowing he could be the difference between Palace staying up or being relegated. Premier League survival is thought to be worth £130 million to clubs.

Palace identified Rennes winger Ismaila Sarr as a possible replacement for Zaha. Watford, however, have also been working on a deal for the Senegal international for weeks and it looked a tall order for Palace to be able to hijack the move.

Everton were today also weighing up an increased bid for Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi, leaving Zaha sweating over whether he would be priced out of a move away from Selhurst Park.

Iwobi was thought to be available for about £40m and were Parish to change his stance on Zaha, the Nigeria star could become an option for Palace.

However, despite the carrot of staying in London, it was unclear today whether Iwobi would be prepared to join a club whose first ambition is always top- flight survival.

Iwobi now involved in the transfer saga.
David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Zaha has been desperate to leave Palace and is furious with the club for blocking his exit. The 26-year-old made it clear earlier this summer that he wanted to join Arsenal but Everton have been his only serious suitors since the Gunners pulled out.

If Zaha does not get his move to Everton, he still wants to leave Palace in search of a new challenge.

The window stays open until the beginning of September in Europe and Zaha has attracted interest from Napoli and Borussia Dortmund.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in