The Wilfried Zaha Conundrum

Wilfried Zaha has been a talisman for Crystal Palace. He has been their go-to man, and they have built a squad around his best skills. But that could have been different if they had accepted the €40million bid from Arsenal in 2019.

Why did they not accept it? Why did they prioritise keeping Zaha? And do they have a similar conundrum on the horizon?

Jon Mackenzie explains. Craig Silcock illustrates.

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#CrystalPalace #CPFC #PremierLeague

[milomuss]

Palace getting value out of Zaha has kept them in the prem far longer than all those clubs who sold players with intention to reinvest

[TheCollateraldamage]

I'm surprised Tifo made this whole video and omitted the fact that part of the reason Zaha has such a high transfer fee is because of his high sell on clause (25%) to Man Utd. This creates that weird limbo that a club would need to overpay for the fee to ever be enough for Palace to sell a player that's vital to their team and why he was always going to walk for free.

[_sam]

I'm speaking for every Palace fan here - Zaha's worth to our club is more than any dollar-value transfer. He's been our talisman for the better part of 10 years, and has played a key part in keeping us up. I truly hope we manage to get him to sign an extension, because regardless of how old he is, we're going to struggle the second he leaves us. Not only that, but the 25% sell-on clause to Manchester United is something to seriously consider. In recent years we've invested super wisely. Eze, Guehi, Olise, Anderson are all fantastic players for us and will play a part in trying to push us up the ladder slowly but surely. I just pray we actually decide on an ambition rather than sell these players to bigger clubs for profit.

[Bailwaljustice]

I can’t simply tell you how important he is for palace and I am sure palace would have been relegated without him so there is no conundrum only praise for whoever made the decision to keep him.

[Kyle-mwbo]

How is this a question? Zaha kept Crystal Palace in the Premier League. That is worth incalculably more than $72 million

[ReidGameX]

Please never stop doing this style of videos. It's so calm, chill, informative and the animations are AWESOME. Thank you TIFO!

[Zahrul]

Because of Zaha, they stayed up long enough in the Prem to renovate their stadium (which used to be terrible), their academy and training grounds (which were extremely outdated). They have a distinct identity and a style of play that is well-coached all the way to academy kids. They also picked up new fans along the way too. Even if they do get relegated, they have built that capacity to ensure that they will have a clear advantage over Championship teams even with their young players.

[JesseShortss]

They could have easily bagged 70M plus for him back then but honestly I do feel they would have relegated because he’s been carrying them for years.

[tolw]

As a palace fan, i would much rather have kept Zaha for this long and let him walk on a free rather than have sold up for 50 mil a few years ago. Besides, we’d only spend 5 mil of that and probably on someone like Berahino!

[jopearson]

"Should Palace have sold Zaha back when his stock was higher?"

No.

[jamesogorman]

100 percent worth it. To many clubs have sold too easily and try to get in replacements that don’t work. Zaha has been instrumental in helping Palace maintain their Premier League status and the players brought in such as Olise, Eze, Guehi are improving them further

[sld]

Staying up was far more valuable than the fee. Looks like a successful gamble.

[LouisBee]

Keeping Zaha at Crystal Palace has been mutually beneficial for both player and club: The former is guarenteed playing time, and has prospered with his goal scoring record, the latter likewise has maintained their position in the top tier of English football and could challenge for better positions (i.e. European slots) in successive seasons. There are plenty of examples of clubs that have fallen apart after selling their star player (e.g. Leeds and Kalvin Philips) and more where that star player has struggled to make it into a different squad, for whatever reason or another (e.g. Danny Drinkwater at Chelsea).

[solo]

In case of Zaha there is no problem for not selling him. Kane too for an extent is irreplaceable. Without these players their respective clubs will be 10-15 points behind.

[thefootballpunnedit]

I wish we had more top ballers at smaller clubs... modern day Le Tissier vibes... why is Richarlison a backup waste at Spurs when he would be an adored talisman at Everton... it's better for nuetrals to have more talent on the pitch. I hate City for robbing us of 80 dazzling Mahrez performancea... Gundogen performances... Foden performances that they would've undoubtedly gave us at clubs who nailed them on as starters. Elite talent on the bench is just tragic for every fan apart from the oil backed turds at the top.

[MH]

His contributed his part in helping them stay in the Prem. That is an achievement of its own and should be respected. His worth more to Palace than 70mil.

[ThreeRunHomer]

This season Palace played better when Zaha wasn’t available, so I think they’ll be fine after he leaves on a free this summer. And in general, I like to see smallish clubs keep good players rather than automatically selling every good player to one of the rich clubs.

[sinksinkswim]

Zaha's worth to Palace can't really be quantified this way anyway. I'm sure every fan at Selhurst would say not cashing in on him has paid tenfold in terms of the football they've got to witness.

[George-dg]

Olise and Eze are proof we are okay without Zaha.

However Zaha is oir greatest and still has something to offer in his closing years. The 200k a week offer that the media mentioned is true in some sense only that its made up of performance bonuses.

Hope he stays, understand if he departs and would never blame him. Forever grateful ❤💙

[JamesWaddington]

The Wilfried Zaha Conundrum's debut album releases 1 June.