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Sky Sports: Arsenal table bid to sign £80m star who’s desperate to make ‘dream’ move

By on July 1, 2019

According to Sky Sports, Arsenal have launched an opening £40m bid to sign Wilfried Zaha and his brother says the Crystal Palace attacker is desperate to secure a dream move to the Emirates.

Unai Emery needs to bring in a top class winger this summer as Arsenal lack any genuine width in the squad right now and Zaha has been touted by the media as our prime target.

It looks like we’ve formalised our interest as Sky Sports are one of several mainstream media outlets to report that Arsenal have tested Crystal Palace’s resolve with an opening £40m offer.

The bid is almost certainly going to be rejected as the report says it falls well short of Palace’s £80m valuation and the Eagles appear determined to hang on to Zaha after selling Aaron Wan-Bissaka to Manchester United.

However, the 26-year-old is pulling out all the stops to try and force a move as his brother, Judicael, has told Sky Sports that the winger hopes Palace will allow him to make a ‘dream’ move to Arsenal this summer.

Judicael suggests Palace should grant Zaha his wish to join his boyhood club after he helped keep them in the Premier League with 10 goals and 5 assists last season.

Zaha’s brother told Sky Sports:

“Wilfried will always hold Crystal Palace and their fans in the highest regard and all the support they have given means the world to him. It’s my brother’s dream though, to play for Arsenal.

“Given all that Wilfried has given to Crystal Palace to help them remain a Premier League club, I hope Palace will be able to see their way to agreeing a deal with Arsenal that allows Wilfried to realise his dream of playing European Football for the club he’s supported since childhood.”

I’m not sure Palace will take too kindly to Zaha’s brother going public like this but it will help Arsenal’s cause in driving the price down – although I think the attacker will need to submit a transfer request for us to stand a chance of getting a deal agreed.

Palace are under no pressure to sell as Zaha is tied to a long-term contract and with Man Utd due 25% of any sale, they quite rightly want big money to cash-in on their star player.

However, I wonder how Arsenal can afford to bid even £40m. Emery reportedly has just £45m to spend and he needs to sign a centre-back, full-back and midfielder along with a winger so how on earth can we afford all that if we splash our entire budget on Zaha?

It seems like we’ll have to sell in order to raise extra funds but I just pray we aren’t about to sell Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as that would be totally counter productive.