Arsenal: If you weren’t convinced by Wilfried Zaha…

Wilfried Zaha was superb in Crystal Palace’s win over Arsenal. If you weren’t convinced by how good a signing he would be before, you should be now.

I have been on the Wilfried Zaha train for a long time. For me, the wide positions ar the biggest need for Arsenal to address this summer. Although there are other areas of the team that are problematic, signing one or even two starting wingers would, I believe, address the whole unbalance of the midfield and aid every part of the pitch.

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Specifically, the type of winger I would love to see the Gunners sign is a fast, direct, skilful, dribbling, goalscoring winger. And there might not be a player who better fits that remit who could be available to sign this summer in the world than Zaha.

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The Crystal Palace attacker notched his ninth goal of the season on Sunday, sliding past Shkodran Mustafi and poking a calm finish past the onrushing Bernd Leno. That matches his goal tally from last season and is equal to his best-ever mark in his career. He knows how to score goal, that is for sure. But it was not his goal that was most impressive against the Gunners.

Zaha was exceptionally difficult to tackle. Deceptively strong on the ball, he careers off challenges with sensational balance and ball control, either able to dribble past opposing defenders with quick movements and shifts of weight or overpower them with impressive upper-body strength. Arsenal did not want to get too tight to him because of his skill and strength, but they also did not want to allow him to turn and drive at them with the ball at his feet. Stuck between a rock and a hard place. That is the conundrum that Zaha puts defenders in.

After the match, Roy Hodgson was asked about his star player’s future. His response was coy:

"“He’s on a four-year contract, he’s one of our highest-paid players and he’s absolutely adored by the fans and everyone in south-east London. As far as I’m concerned, I’m looking forward to working with him not only in the near future, but I’m looking forward to seeing him in the Crystal Palace shirt for many years to come. The question is how many players, if the question is put to them, would say: ‘I don’t want to play Champions League football.’ You just congratulate the journalist; he’s caught him at the right moment and extracted an honest answer out of him.”"

What happens with Zaha this summer is very much up in the air. And whether Arsenal can afford him is another question that I am not sure as to the answer. With every goal, his price rises another £5 million. Palace reportedly value him at £80 million. There is no way that he would be moving to the Emirates for that kind of price.

But if you weren’t already convinced that he would be a good signing, then I hope that Sunday’s performance was enough to show why I believe he is an absolutely ideal addition. In fact, I would go as far as to say that he would be my number one target this summer.

Zaha is a fabulous player with a fabulous playing at a position in precisely the manner that Arsenal so desperately need. What more is there to want?