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Wilfried Zaha

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
The fact that Zaha plays for a struggling palace side fudges this stats imo. Would son have scored as many if he played for palace the last 3 seasons?

All of Palace's play is geared towards getting Zaha on the ball in dangerous areas. Son is one of 4 with us, and probably the one who gets the least focus. Think of it this way: Kevin Phillips, Marcus Stewart, Darren Bent, Wilifred Bony. Hell, last season Vardy scored 20 as Leicester fought relegation for most of the season, with Mahrez scoring 12 (the same amount as Son) in the same team.

You may say 'but Zaha is more of a wide player and they are all forwards' and you would be correct, but Son is also more of a wide player than a forward.

Zaha is a good player and if we signed him he'd definitely be more useful for us than several attacking players on our books, but with Son, Moura and Lamela all vying for at most 2 spots (and potentially only 1 a lot of the time) I just don't see Zaha as a necessary addition. That said, I love a dribbler and if we did get him I'd definitely enjoy watching him, but I just think there are areas in our squad (and first team in fact) more in need of new players.
 

Clark28

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2016
2,269
13,040
I question how similar they all are though, and close to what we want they are. Initial theory seemed to be we want someone who's a WF/CF hybrid, like Son, who can fill in for Kane as CF when required, but equally maintain match sharpness by playing elsewhere when Kane is available, not solely reliant on replacing Kane for gametime. Martial, yes, Bailey and Zaha not so sure they fit that description, Pulisic even less so.
He played ST for Palace a lot last season, last 10 or so games especially.

Bailey and Pulisic I agree wouldn't be as capable playing up top
 

Yid-ol

Just-outside Edinburgh
Jan 16, 2006
31,097
19,276
All of Palace's play is geared towards getting Zaha on the ball in dangerous areas. Son is one of 4 with us, and probably the one who gets the least focus. Think of it this way: Kevin Phillips, Marcus Stewart, Darren Bent, Wilifred Bony. Hell, last season Vardy scored 20 as Leicester fought relegation for most of the season, with Mahrez scoring 12 (the same amount as Son) in the same team.

You may say 'but Zaha is more of a wide player and they are all forwards' and you would be correct, but Son is also more of a wide player than a forward.

Zaha is a good player and if we signed him he'd definitely be more useful for us than several attacking players on our books, but with Son, Moura and Lamela all vying for at most 2 spots (and potentially only 1 a lot of the time) I just don't see Zaha as a necessary addition. That said, I love a dribbler and if we did get him I'd definitely enjoy watching him, but I just think there are areas in our squad (and first team in fact) more in need of new players.

Zaha can also cover Kane as a striker if needed and Alli for playing behind Kane, so even though it is 4 players for 2 wide positions, he can also rotate to give Alli and Kane rests at times or in cup games also.

Think I would be happier with Zaha as our back up striker while still able to get minutes playing wide or behind kane than Jansen or llorente coming in cold.
 

Paolo10

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2004
6,179
7,621
All of Palace's play is geared towards getting Zaha on the ball in dangerous areas. Son is one of 4 with us, and probably the one who gets the least focus. Think of it this way: Kevin Phillips, Marcus Stewart, Darren Bent, Wilifred Bony. Hell, last season Vardy scored 20 as Leicester fought relegation for most of the season, with Mahrez scoring 12 (the same amount as Son) in the same team.

You may say 'but Zaha is more of a wide player and they are all forwards' and you would be correct, but Son is also more of a wide player than a forward.

Zaha is a good player and if we signed him he'd definitely be more useful for us than several attacking players on our books, but with Son, Moura and Lamela all vying for at most 2 spots (and potentially only 1 a lot of the time) I just don't see Zaha as a necessary addition. That said, I love a dribbler and if we did get him I'd definitely enjoy watching him, but I just think there are areas in our squad (and first team in fact) more in need of new players.

Zaha is their best player by a distance and everyone, including other teams know it. He might get the ball a fair bit, but it's not like other teams aren't aware of him. I also happen to think he's a better player than Moura...and I think Poch might agree somehow.

Just because he's a big fish in a small pond doesn't tell you anything about the impact he could have to our squad tbh.

His talent is massive.
 

Trix

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2004
19,337
329,025
@Trix not an ITK question so hopefully it’s ok to ask: what exactly does an official transfer request accomplish?

Is saying “he hasn’t handed in an official transfer request” significant? If he actually hands one in does that really make it any more likely that they move him?

Well it does 2 things. It informs the fans that it is the players decision to go, and it negates any loyalty payments they would be contractually entitled to.
 

GutBucket

Well-Known Member
May 26, 2013
6,808
11,492
He really impressed me last season, he was great against Liverpool but Benteke was shit and couldn't finish on chances he created. His assist numbers would be much higher in a better team. There is some risk with him because his finishing can be shocking at times and some players do better at mid table clubs (like Siggy) but he would be good for us IMO. Time is running out though so hopefully we move on before it's too late.
 

Paolo10

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2004
6,179
7,621
There were 4 years when he could have been picked after playing in a couple of friendlies, Hodgson gave him his debut and after that there's a rumour that Southgate never forgot about him being late for an Under-21 meeting.

He turned down Ivory Coast a few times, I seem to recall reading about Drogba phoning him or something to convince him too.

Talks about his decision and seems very grounded in this interview with Goal...

 
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baldinyid

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2005
212
397
Every single club has 'wasted' money on transfers even when they were run by the very best of Managers. Wenger and SAF have invested in real dross as well as those that turned out to be successes.
Mumbo jumbo springs to mind......sorry, I meant Djemba Djemba.
SAF generally got it right but there is definitely quite a large number that amounted to nothing.
When you look at it that way we haven't done to badly......plus, baldy has always done a decent job of recouping the money............typically from Stoke :)
 

archiewasking

Waiting for silverware..........
Jul 5, 2004
7,848
11,668
If Everton are paying £50m for Richarlison, no way we get Zaha for anything south of £75 imo.
 

ToDarrenIsToDo

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2017
1,665
6,291
If Everton are paying £50m for Richarlison, no way we get Zaha for anything south of £75 imo.

So in theory that runs with what you're saying. Sanchez is our most expensive signing and Richarlison is £10m more so it'll cos us £10m to sign a player that's talent wise not as good as what we already have.

Every deal and it's value varies, people can't take one particular deal as a benchmark for others that will happen along the way.

If you offered me the chance to spend nearly £100m of our hard earned and well looked after funds on Siggurdsson & Richarlison or wait until we have better to spend that money on, I'd honestly rather wait
 

MaestroOfSwe

Well-Known Member
Dec 15, 2008
174
275
I think zaha would rocket in terms of stats and performance in our lineup. Just like mane did in Pool. Didnt have the best stats and only that good in a handful of games at southampton. Look at mane now, such a fantastic player and much more complete
 

Hercules

Well-Known Member
Jul 23, 2014
5,694
156,565
I think I mentioned before when he signed his new contract, that he was ill-advised. Signing was not an issue, but a clause should have been inserted, which it wasn’t. Players who are signed to lesser clubs have them.
 

Blackrat1299

Well-Known Member
Jan 8, 2006
5,368
6,404
I may be wrong, but generally if they had in a transfer request they wave any payoff they would have been entitled too, if CP just sell him then he'd probably get a few million

Are there any benefits to handing in a written request? If not whats the point
 

cjsimba

Well-Known Member
Dec 5, 2006
2,563
9,451
Wasn’t too sure originally, but I’m fully on board with this now.

He’s got that great combination of pace and power which is so perfect for the Premier League
 
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