Chelsea are considering a move for Wilfried Zaha.
According to reports, Chelsea could make a bid in January for the talented Ivorian. Antonio Conte wants more attacking options and Zaha has impressed so far this season. However, it’s more likely that they will wait until the summer because there is a bigger chance that they will be able to get him.
Zaha signed a new five-year contract during the summer in order to ward off potential suitors with Tottenham being the favourites at that time. Spurs have been interested in him for a few seasons due to the directness that he offers with his dribbling ability. This makes him the ideal player to use against low blocks which Spurs sometimes struggle with.
A potential bid for him from Chelsea is likely to reignite Tottenham’s interest, and start a potential bidding war, because they didn’t buy someone of his skillset in the summer. Son Heung-min is a similar kind of player, but he has shown that he can’t do this consistently.
His decision to stay at Crystal Palace for this season was probably influenced by his ill-fated move to Manchester United. The move came too early in his career and he couldn’t live up to expectations. He ended moving back to his old club, Crystal Palace, after this in order to restart his career which has worked well. His return from injury has seen Palace’s form improve significantly which isn’t a coincidence.
A January move seems unlikely due to Palace fighting for survival. However, he is unlikely to stay after this season because he deserves to be in a Champions League team.
More from Playing for 90
- Alexia Putellas reaches 400 games with Barcelona
- Everything you need to know ahead of the 250th ‘Super Clásico’
- Barcelona put five past Real Betis
- Manchester City suffer but come away with win over West Ham
- Baffling Liga MX ruling strips Puebla of a hard-earned victory
Who should he join?
Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool are all reported to be interested in him as well. Arsenal are the only real credible threat for his signature because of their need for an Alexis Sánchez replacement. City and Liverpool have plenty of attacking options, so Zaha is unlikely to choose them.
Realistically only two of Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham will finish in the top four. The two Manchester teams look the favourites to take the top two spots. This is likely to limit Zaha’s options because he is unlikely to choose a team that isn’t in the Champions League next season. Arsenal could complicate this by winning the Europa League with the other two teams finishing in the Champions League spots. Although this is highly unlikely.
Arsenal are the least enticing team because of their inability to challenge for the league and their weakness in Europe. Tottenham are the most exciting project because are constantly progressing with their performances in Europe this season reinforcing this. This is heavily centred around Mauricio Pochettino, though, and how long he decides to stay. The only issue for Spurs is that they still haven’t won anything even though they have threatened to on multiple occasions.
Next: Chelsea plotting move for Batshuayi replacement
Chelsea are the team that have the biggest chance of offering success. They are a short-term club which makes the squad highly competitive and means that they periods of success. However, they aren’t consistent due to the managerial instability which makes it tough to hold down a first-team place. Zaha has a huge choice to make. Spurs are probably the best option because he can continue to improve and move on in a couple of years if he isn’t happy with their progress as a team.