Arsenal: What the hell is so special about Wilfried Zaha?

Arsenal are not giving up on Wilfried Zaha, but what I don’t get is why all the stops are being pulled out for someone who doesn’t seem all that special.

I thought we were done with this. When Crystal Palace made it clear that Wilfried Zaha was going to cost £80m, I thought that Arsenal could lay the wreath on that gravestone. It was dead. Over. But clearly I was wrong.

First, the Gunners were keen on letting Reiss Nelson, Calum Chambers and Carl Jenkinson go the opposite way, solely to half the transfer budget down to £40m. This was a bad enough idea. Horrible. Letting Reiss Nelson, who has unlimited potential, go for a player who, as he approaches his prime, has only ever been ‘good,’ it tantamount to insanity.

But it gets worse! Now Arsenal are supposedly toying with selling Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (yes, the Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who won the Golden Boot) to fund a move for Zaha.

I am still wondering why Wilfried Zaha is worth all of this. Statistically speaking, Ryan Fraser has him beat in every single category in his entire career. Ryan Fraser. The guy who is “underwhelming.”

Zaha dribbles well, is that it? He completes more dribbles than anyone else in the Premier League bar Eden Hazard, who isn’t in the Premier League anymore. But to go along with that, he also takes more poor touches and is dispossessed more than any other player.

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By a healthy margin. He is dispossessed 1.1 times more than the next highest player.

Anthony Martial scored more goals than Zaha in half the minutes played. Marko Arnautovic scored as many. And as for assists, Hector Bellerin had as many, and we had him for half a season. Alex Iwobi had more. Ramsey had more.

If we’re going to break the bank on a marquee signing, might as well have it be someone who has a prodigious track record of undeniable results, but Wilfried Zaha doesn’t have that. And don’t give me this “he’s confined at Crystal Palace” crap and then slate Ryan Fraser, who plays in a very similar situation at Bournemouth.

Granted, stats don’t say everything. I’ve seen Zaha play, and of course I’d like to see him at Arsenal, but not at the cost of what’s being talked about. I don’t want to lose so much promise and potential, so many goals, all in the name of getting a player who, while good, has yet to be great.

Maybe the Emirates could be his grounds to greatness. That’s fine. But until he stops being so criminally overpriced, I” stand on my anti-Zaha soapbox all day.