- Dec 25, 2017
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Is it just me or does this article appear to have been edited after publication to remove the Tottenham connection / Sissoko swap rumor? Which is odd. Even by British tabloid standards?https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/tottenham-everton-plot-wilfried-zaha-12949196
Tottenham and Everton plot Wilfried Zaha player-plus-cash transfer offers rather than meet Crystal Palace's £60million asking price
Moussa Sissoko and Eagles old boy Yannick Bolasie are names in the frame to be offered as makeweights
The Wilfried Zaha saga has taken a fresh twist with Tottenham and Everton now planning part-exchange bids for the £60million-rated star.
Long-term suitors Spurs are unwilling to meet Crystal Palace’s valuation of Zaha but willing to offer a player as a makeweight to try to bring their cash outlay down.
France midfielder Moussa Sissoko is one player they may look to include in any deal.
Meanwhile, Everton are ready to give Palace the chance to re-sign former favourite Yannick Bolasie and offer cash on top in an attempt to land Zaha.
The Blues value Bolasie at around £15m.
Germany’s Borussia Dortmund are also lining up a big-money bid for Zaha, while ambitious West Ham are understood to have baulked at their London rivals' valuation.
As MirrorFootball reported, the 25-year-old is keen to move on and has turned down Palace’s offer to make him their new £125,000-per-week highest earner, which led to contract talks being shelved.
Zaha has made no secret of his own ambitions, and he and his representatives are understood to have been left concerned by recent comments from boss Roy Hodgson.
The Ivory Coast international, who also won caps for England before committing to the country of his birth, was an inspirational figure last season in a successful fight against relegation.
But Hodgson has warned Palace are preparing for another battle against the drop in the new season, adding that they “haven’t really got a lot of money” to improve a squad which has already been weakened by Yohan Cabaye’s exit, Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s return to parent club Chelsea from loan and the likely departure on a free of Bakary Sako.
Palace are determined to hold onto talisman Zaha and, earlier in the summer, considered him worth more than any sum of money they may receive.
And they remain in a strong position as there are still four years left on the £100,000-per-week contract he signed last summer.