Adding Zaha would give Arsenal dynamic attack

George Washington once said “make them believe that offensive operations, often times, is the surest, if not the only (in some cases) means of defense.” Arsenal have been championing this sentiment for years now. Despite the club’s clear issues in defense, the Gunners have submitted a £40 million bid for Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha. Although the bid was quickly rejected, it is thought that Arsenal will return with another bid soon.

Zaha, now 26, has made it clear (through his brother) that he wants to join the north London outfit. This brother, Judicael Zaha, has claimed that there is a verbal agreement between Wilfried and Palace to allow the player to join a big club like Arsenal. Speaking with the Daily Mail, Judicael said, “Crystal Palace have told me that if an opportunity presented itself again for him to join a club who play European football regularly, they would not stop Wilfried from getting back up to that level, because they know there is a limit to whether he can fulfill all of his ambitions with Palace.”

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He went on to say, “we are hoping they still feel that way and they can come to agreement with Arsenal quickly, for the benefit of Wilfried’s future.”

If a deal were to get done between the two London-based clubs, Arsenal would be receiving a special player. Zaha is very talented and would give the Gunners a dangerous threat out wide. Also assuming Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette remain with the club this summer, Arsenal would have one of the most dangerous front three attacking lineups in the Premier League. However, this potential deal for Zaha is complicated and far from complete.

Palace reportedly value their star player in the £80 million range. If this is in fact true, Arsenal will have to significantly up their funds to secure Zaha. The Gunners could, however, also use a player or two to get closer to Palace’s asking price. Calum Chambers, valued somewhere between £15-£25 million and Carl Jenkinson, valued at around £5 million, could both be used to pry Zaha away from Palace. It is thought that Palace would be interested in both of these players.

While the Gunners would be using a large chunk of their reported £40-£45 million transfer kitty to secure Zaha, they would most likely attempt to make annual installment payments to help ease the financial strain. Whether or not Palace will go for this plan is another question.

Signing Zaha is clearly more of a want than a need for Arsenal. The club is in desperate need of additional defenders and signing another attacker could handcuff any potential deal for a top center back. The Gunners do, however, still have a few players that they are trying to sell this summer. Along with the aforementioned duo of Chambers and Jenkinson, the club is supposedly open to selling Shkodran Mustafi, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Sead Kolasinac, and Mesut Ozil. Nevertheless, finding potential buyers for these players has proven to be problematic.

This Zaha situation has the potential to get ugly. Arsenal is seemingly banking on the player to formally request a transfer to help bring down the high price tag. Opening negotiations with a bid half of Palace’s valuation is evident of this. With over a month remaining in the summer transfer window, this story could go down to the final moments on August 8th.