Former Crystal Palace star Nigel Martyn says he believes Wilfried Zaha needs a transfer to a club like Arsenal at this stage of his career.
The Gunners were linked several times with Zaha over the summer by i News and others, though a deal never materialised and they ended up signing Nicolas Pepe instead.
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Still, it would not be too surprising if Zaha transfer speculation resurfaced again in January, with that i News piece claiming Arsenal were still interested in the Ivory Coast international despite also signing Pepe.
Martyn has also talked up the potential move, telling Zaha he should be playing at a higher level, though he also doesn’t expect the 26-year-old to be difficult about trying to leave Selhurst Park.
“If a player wants to go enough and is desperate enough to leave then it’s possibly not in your best interests to try and keep him because you then have a player who doesn’t want to be there,” Martyn told 888 Sport, as quoted by football.london.
“Not that Wilf wants to let the club down in any way. He loves Crystal Palace. He just wants a chance to further his career and go to potentially a bigger club like Arsenal.
“That’s the type of club he needs to move to. He needs a club that is challenging for the Champions League because that’s the standard that he’s at.”
Arsenal could perhaps do with one more attacking signing to come in as an upgrade on under-performing stars like Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, while they lost depth up front with the summer sale of Alex Iwobi to Everton, forcing Unai Emery to promote youngsters like Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock.