Arsenal: Wilfried Zaha will have to do heavy lifting

Wilfried Zaha is reportedly set to tell Crystal Palace that he wants to leave the club this summer. Should Arsenal sign him, he will have to do the heavy lifting.

It seems as though the saga of the summer still has some road to run. After a miserly and humiliating £40 million offer was swiftly rejected by Crystal Palace, Arsenal returned to the Emirates with their tails very much between their legs. Their number one priority of the summer, Wilfried Zaha, would cost much more than that.

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Ever since the £40 million, noise on the Zaha front has gone a little quiet. Everton Soares became the main man, the appointment of Edu Gaspar as the new technical director a clear tip in the Brazilian direction. The Gunners, it seemed, had moved on.

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And so had Zaha, temporarily. While his brother revealed that he wanted a north London move, Zaha had more pressing issues to focus on: Ivory Coast’s African Cup of Nations. But last week, the Ivory Coast lost to Algeria on penalties in the quarter-finals and Zaha has subsequently returned to Palace.

According to Sky Sports, he does not want to be there. Zaha informed Palace that he wants to leave and is frustrated at their £80 million stance regarding a potential exit. Manager Roy Hodgson, on the other hand, is taking a stricter view:

"“I don’t think Arsenal have actually made a bid that has come anywhere near our valuation. I’m sure the player realises that if someone’s going to take him away from us, he’ll expect clubs to pay the market value. Until someone does that, there’s not much to discuss regarding Wilf.”"

From Palace’s point of view, they are completely within their own rights to demand whatever they want. It may seem like an extortionate price, one that they will never actually receive, but Zaha is their player and they can do with him whatever they please, especially while he has a four-year contract.

And so, there is only one way that this deal is going to be completed this summer: Palace must be coerced into lowering the price. Arsenal cannot afford £80 million. They can barely afford £60 million. Palace do not want to see for anything less than top dollar. If a transfer is to happen, something must give, and that something is Zaha himself.

If Zaha is desperate to make the north London switch, he must be the one to engineer it. He must show Palace that he is unwilling to train and to play, he must hand in a transfer request, he must make life as difficult as possible so that Palace bow and are forced into selling. It is messy and not especially moral, but it is the only way the 26-year-old will end up at the Emirates this summer.

Arsenal cannot afford Zaha. He will have to do the heavy lifting. And that is why I doubt if this deal is ever going to get off the ground at all.