Wilfried Zaha is keen on the possibility of joining Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr this summer when his Crystal Palace contract expires.
Zaha is a club legend at Palace, for whom he has made 450 appearances, but he looks set to depart his boyhood club when his current deal runs out at the end of June. Palace have been trying to tie the 30-year-old down to a new contract, but negotiations over an increase on his £130,000-a-week wages have stalled.
The Evening Standard reports that Zaha is very unlikely to put pen to paper on a new deal with the Premier League side. His representatives have been contacted by three Saudi Arabian clubs – Al-Nassr, Al-Hillal and Al-Ittihad – while AC Milan are also interested in signing him as a free agent this summer.
Zaha has rejected Palace’s approaches and is open to moving to the Middle East for the next stage of his career. Al-Nassr are reported to be paying Ronaldo £177m-per-year after signing him following his departure from Manchester United.
Big-money signings for the Saudi Pro League are part-funded by the state, which is keen to grow football in the country while bidding to host the 2030 World Cup. Ronaldo’s arrival has increased the interest in the league and it is thought his arrival could encourage other top European players to follow his lead.
As well as Ronaldo, the Saudi Pro League has players like David Ospina and Luis Gustavo (Al-Nassr), Helder Costa (Al-Ittihad), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Al-Shabab) and Odion Ighalo and Moussa Morega (Al-Hilal). If he were to join, Zaha would become the second highest-profile player to move to the country, after Ronaldo.
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Zaha has frequently been linked with other clubs during his time with Palace. Arsenal and Chelsea are the most recent Premier League clubs to take an interest in the Ivory Coast international, but it looks as though he will move overseas in the summer.
Speaking back in November, Zaha insisted he was focused on seeing out the season with Palace and would decide on his future in due course.
"I'm happy obviously, I just wanted to kick on from last season so yeah I'm happy. I'm amongst the goals, so I'm enjoying my football. How many times have I seen my name next to transfer stuff? Me, I never speak on these things," he told Sky Sports.
"My contract is up when my contract is up. I’m a Crystal Palace player. The only thing I’m focused on is doing well for the club. That’s it. I take every day as it comes because I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.
"So I can’t sit here and say: ‘this is my plan for this’. No, I’m only fixated on what I’m doing tomorrow in training and then what I’m doing Sunday. So yeah I’m very devoted to Palace and that's all I'm thinking about."
