It is being reported today that we are one of a number of clubs that want to sign Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha, however, he will not come cheap.
Zaha is apparently valued at £75 Million, a fee that we would really struggle to raise and even if we could, is he really worth that sort of expenditure?
Zaha looks good at Palace because of the quality of player around him, he never looked that good during his short stint with Manchester United back in 2013-15 and while there are a variety of reasons for his disappointing spell at Old Trafford it does raise many questions.
So many players play brilliant with the lesser clubs but as soon as they get their dream move to a bigger club they simply are unable to up their game, it is one thing to play for Crystal Palace and a whole different matter when you don the Arsenal shirt.
If Zaha played for a bigger club then you would surely fill more at ease that he will be able to replicate his form with another big club but when a player takes a leap up a level it is a risky proposition.
Of course, top players flop as well, Juan Veron, Andriy Shevchenko and Radamel Falcao are just three names off the top of my head that fall into the ‘flop’ category and other players from lesser clubs have made the transition flawlessly. Our own Mattéo Guendouzi is a good example of that. Ok, he is not yet world class but you get my point.
But £75 Million is a huge amount of money and I would feel uncomfortable splashing that out on a single player that cannot be guaranteed, in my opinion, to perform to the same level with us as he does with Palace.
What is your opinion?