Arsenal: Wilfried Zaha the absolute best of a bad situation

Arsenal are supposedly looking at Wilfried Zaha for a January move, which may not seem ideal, but you can’t do any better with the situation at hand.

Arsenal’s January transfer window may be the most interesting it’s been since we signed Kim Kallstrom. As in, there might actually be story-lines worth following, not least of all the pending exits of both Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.

Bot Arsenal superstars are bound to bounce at some point in the near future, so might as well just cut them loose when there can still be a return. The big hold up is identifying realistic replacements.

Unfortunately, players like Thomas Lemar, Julian Draxler and Nabil Fekir are going to be cup tied and competing for titles. There’s no way to land a player like that midseason. Just no way.

You’d have to find a potentially dynamic player buried in a lesser team, preferably the Premier League, as acclimation isn’t an option.

I’ll stop beating around the bush now. The answer is absolutely Wilfried Zaha. Rumors are tying the Ivorian to a January move to Arsenal and while any January move to Arsenal is right to be met with immediate skepticism, this might be an exception to that rule.

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Zaha is buried on Crystal Palace, who will be playing out their days hoping Roy Hodgson can save them from what seemed a sure relegation season. Zaha has spent the massive majority of his early career at Palace, accumulating 200 appearances with them and 25 goals in that span.

This traces back to 2004, when, at the age of 12, he joined the Palace academy. With a move to Manchester United in between (the last ever transfer of Sir Alex Ferguson), you can still say that Zaha is a Palace man if ever there was one.

But at 25 years old, he is going to be wanting more. He is a dynamic player who has been held back by a lack of quality options around him. When Palace are clicking, Zaha, thrives. When they aren’t, he is a one-man attacking crew that does the most he possibly can.

I get if there is hesitation around Zaha, seeing as how he is “only a Palace man” but he has superb strength and speed, as well as a finishing ability that will put Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck to shame.

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It’s a tough situation to be in, and while he is certainly not Alexis Sanchez, he is the best we can possibly do in January. And I’m not saying that like it’s a bad thing. This move should be embraced.

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