Arsenal and Wilfried Zaha: £40 million bid not clever negotiating

Arsenal submitted a £40 million offer for Crystal Palace’s £80 million-rated Wilfried Zaha. Despite some arguments on social media, this is not clever negotiating.

Ah, here we are again. Arsenal and their penny-pinching negotiating. When will they ever learn? Apparently, never.

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This time, it is the turn of Wilfried Zaha to suffer the infuriation of watch a club he is interested in joining be utterly unwilling to even come close to his perceived value. Crystal Palace, Zaha’s current club, value the winger at £80 million. The Gunners decided to submit their initial offer on Monday. It was £40 million, half of Palace’s valuation.

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There are very few that would argue that Zaha’s value is £80 million. Palace are unquestionably inflating the price of their star player because they are desperate not to sell him for anything over than top dollar. But at the negotiating table, Zaha’s actual value does not carry the same significance as what it is deemed to be by Palace. Even if the general consensus deems that Arsenal’s £40 million offer is closer to a fair price for the 26-year-old, the general consensus is not selling the player. Palace are. And that makes all the difference.

It is not the market value that head of football Raul Sanllehi must satisfy, it is Palace’s valuation that he must match, and, as everyone can see, making an offer for half of that does not even come close. And that, whatever you cut it, is not smart negotiating.

Some have tried to argue that Arsenal are well within their rights to make a half-price offer, and, technically, they are, just as Palace are well within their rights to reject it. But that does not make it clever negotiating, even if their offer is closer to the true market value.

As a recent report from David Ornstein outlines, Palace are ‘incensed’ by the offer and have firmed up their stance that they will not sacrifice on price, especially after selling Aaron Wan-Bisaka earlier in the summer. If anything, by submitting their pitiful offer, Sanllehi has made life harder for himself, even if Zaha hands in a transfer request and makes the saga ugly, as is now expected.

This news comes off the back of Napoli sneaking ahead in the race to sign Arsenal’s other top target, Celtic’s Kieran Tierney. Two offers for £15 million and £18 million were rejected earlier in the summer. Predictably, neither came close to Celtic’s £25 million valuation. This is what happens when you penny pinch.

So yes, when negotiating, get the best deal possible. That much goes without saying. But do not low-ball other clubs with your offers. That is not smart negotiating. Sadly, that is precisely what the penny-pinching Gunners are set to continue doing. Perhaps Arsene Wenger was not the problem after all.