Chelsea and Manchester City given boost in pursuit of new winger
Chelsea and Manchester City have both been given a boost in their attempts to sign Wilfried Zaha after Roy Hodgson hinted the winger could leave Crystal Palace next month.
Zaha has emerged as a January transfer target for a number of the Premier League’s biggest clubs after making a breathtaking return from injury to help fire the Eagles out of the bottom three.
Palace successfully fended off bids from Tottenham in the summer and are now bracing themselves for more interest next month, which Hodgson has suggested might prove too much.
“I don’t think that as a manager you can ever give guarantees on anything,” talkSPORT quote Hodgson as saying on Thursday. “It’s great credit to the club and Wilf Zaha that if there are rumours circulating that there are so called bigger clubs looking at him and maybe thinking of making a bid, we should be pleased about that because it means he’s playing well.
“That’s the way we are looking at it and if the day comes that when one of those rumours becomes the truth and there’s a concrete situation, I will come to terms with it at that moment in time.
“If you ask if I want him to stay, then like the rest of Crystal Palace supporters of course I do. I’m happy to let the rumours abound.
“He’s helping us win games and I’ve no doubt that will continue until the day when he can no longer do it for us. Like most Crystal Palace fans, I hope that’s a long way off.”
Zaha’s four Premier League goals have been worth four points to Palace this season. Without them, Hodgson’s side would be second from bottom and three points from safety.
Instead, Palace are 14th and have the chance to move even further away from the drop zone when they face bottom side Swansea this weekend.
Since the start of last season, only Eden Hazard (210) has completed more dribbles than Zaha (187) in the Premier League.
