Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha has revealed his disappointment after a proposed move to Arsenal failed to materialise this summer.
As per Goal, Zaha was heavily linked with a move to Emirates Stadium earlier this year, but Palace stuck to their £80 million valuation of the Ivorian star.
Metro Sport states that Arsenal saw a £40 million bid for the 26-year-old turned down, before turning their attention to Nicolas Pepe, who joined the club from Lille at the start of August for a record £72 million fee – as per BBC Sport.
Zaha was also the subject of interest from Everton, but he had his heart set on a move to Arsenal, having supported the club in his youth.
The Palace attacker has now addressed his failed transfer to the Emirates, claiming his “head was all over the place” in the early stages of the 2019-20 campaign.
“I had to put my head down and play my football,” Zaha told BBC Sport.
“I would have been hindering my own progress by moaning and not wanting to perform properly.
“I have too much respect for my manager, the fans and my team-mates to treat them that way. It was a thing where ‘OK, this hasn’t happened but I’ve got to get on with it’.
“I’ve got to prove every time that I’m the top player I claim to be so I had to get over that quickly. Obviously my head was a bit all over the place at the beginning of the season but I had to nail down and just get on with it because the team deserved that.”
The Ivory Coast international has picked himself up admirably to star for Palace in the Premier League once again, helping them rise to sixth in the table after the first eight fixtures of the new season.
Zaha is refusing to rule out a move away from Selhurst Park in the near future, but at the moment, he is fully focused on helping Palace finish as high as possible.
“I’m seeing how it goes,” he added. “I’m a Crystal Palace player and I’m just trying to perform to the best of my ability for my club.
“I’m not thinking about anything else and just taking each day as it comes.
“The season’s gone well so far. We’ve got a lot more in us and I’m happy with the squad and everyone’s happy with where we are right now.
“All I can do is perform on the pitch. I’m trying to be a consistent performer on the pitch week in, week out.
“Last season I set myself a target of 10 goals and managed to get 10, so I was happy. Hopefully, I can reach my goals again – that’s all that’s on my mind.”
