Chelsea has been dealt a blow in the transfer market after Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson’s comments on Wilfried Zaha’s situation this morning.
Zaha has spent the majority of his career at Crystal Palace and came through their ranks at youth level, making over 200 appearances for the club overall. He moved to Old Trafford in 2013 but made just 2 first team appearances for Manchester United and was loaned out to Cardiff City and back to Palace before rejoining the Londoners permanently in 2015.
Since then he has gone from strength to strength and vastly improved his game, adding an end product to his trademark dizzying runs which had often been missing during in his younger years.
Reports have emerged from the Daily Mirror linking Zaha as wanting out of the club to seal a transfer to Chelsea, but Hodgson has poured cold water on the speculation.
“I spoke to Wilf yesterday and he certainly gave me no indication that he wanted to quit the club,” he told talkSPORT.
“In fact we were talking about how good the new signings were and how they would help us.
“The thing with Wilf is very simple. He’s very much an integral part of our plans, he’s very much an integral part of Crystal Palace Football Club.
“Everyone likes him, everyone admires him.
“He knows that and I think he likes and respects the club as well.”
This news will come as another shock to the system for Blues supporters, following the failure to snare Argentina forward Gonzalo Higuain, who joined AC Milan yesterday despite having been linked as a top target for Chelsea by the Daily Mirror.
With current number 1 striker Alvaro Morata going through an extended barren spell in front of goal, the need for Sarri to bring in some new attacking talent in the coming days is clear for all to see.
The Ivory Coast international Zaha would have been the ideal signing at this stage and provided the extra forward influence Chelsea desperately need, but it now looks more likely he will remain in the red and blue of Palace if Hodgson’s words are anything to go by.