Wilfried Zaha could feature for Crystal Palace against Arsenal on Monday night, but had things gone differently, he could have been lining up on the opposite side.
Zaha is touch-and-go to be fit for the 8pm kick-off at Selhurst Park after missing Cote d’Ivoire’s 3-0 defeat by England last week with a hamstring injury. The winger did not train with Palace on Thursday and manager Patrick Vieira admitted on Friday that he didn’t know “if it is a long-term problem”.
If he has overcome the injury then Zaha will face the side he came close to joining three years ago. The 29-year-old has frequently been linked with moves away from Palace over the past few years, but the transfer to Arsenal was more than mere speculation.
Back in the summer of 2019 Arsenal had money burning a hole in their pocket and wanted to spend it on a winger. Alex Iwobi was sold to Everton in a deal which could rise to £35million and Nicolas Pepe arrived in a club-record £72m move from Lille, where he had just put in an outstanding season.
But as Zaha revealed in an illuminating interview with Jamie Carragher back in January 2021, Pepe was only signed after Arsenal, and manager Unai Emery, had thought long and hard about the Crystal Palace man. "I had a conversation with the manager, actually," Zaha said on The Greatest Games podcast . "He was just like, ‘we don’t need to go through much’. He’s seen me play, he knows I can change games at any time and stuff like that. It was like, ‘yeah, we’d love to have you’.
“And I was just like ‘I’d love to come’. The conversation was rather straightforward because I’ve played against him when he’s managed Arsenal, he’s seen what I can do, he’s seen my work rate, what I can add to the team. Obviously, it was up to the club who they chose, and obviously they chose Pepe over me."
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Pepe’s case was a strong one at the time. The Cote d’Ivoire international had netted 35 goals in 74 Ligue 1 appearances for Lille and was coming off a 2018/19 season in which he contributed 22 goals and 11 assists in Ligue 1 – a tally only Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe could better.
At 24 years old, he was considered one of the most exciting young players in Europe. He was three years younger than Zaha and came with a great deal of hype and excitement surrounding him. But, looking back now, it is easy to see the wisdom in the point Zaha made to Carragher last year.
"I just think if there’s a player who plays in the Premier League who you see week in, week out, and you know what he does… I feel like it’s a no brainer," he said. "The other leagues, I feel like they are totally different, in the Prem there are no easy games whatsoever. Every team is going to give you a run for your money. There’s no game where you’re going to go, ‘yeah, we’re going to win 5-0’.
"That’s my thought. I totally understand what you mean. I feel like when players come from abroad, I don’t know, they just have that edge with clubs, it’s just like [they say], ‘yeah, I may want him a bit more because he’s from there’."
Zaha is considered a club legend at Palace, where he has 78 goals and 73 assists in 420 appearances. Only three players have made more appearances for the club. The winger’s tally is spread across two spells, having left for Manchester United in 2013 and returned permanently following two loan spells back in south London.
But while his status at Selhurst Park is secure, he has frequently flirted with other clubs and has not kept his personal ambitions to himself. “My dream is to win things. I’m good enough to go out there and compete with the best. If the opportunity came, I wouldn’t turn it down, because I feel like I deserve it,” he told The Face in May 2021.
“It’s so I can show my kids, ‘This is what daddy won’. I’m 28, but my career’s still hot. People thought I was done: going to Manchester United and that not working out, me going to Cardiff [on loan], but I’ve gone back to Palace, restarted my career, and I’ve stayed relevant and hot throughout this time.”
A transfer may have fallen through three years ago, but Zaha moving to Arsenal could be on the cards again this summer. There is uncertainty over the future of Pepe, who has found himself warming the substitutes’ bench in recent months.
Pepe said recently he will consider his future at the end of the season after enduring a “frustrating” campaign and former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson believes Zaha would be a perfect replacement. In his Daily Star column, Merson wrote: "Arsenal should go back in for Wilfried Zaha and try to sign him from Crystal Palace this summer. They wanted him before and missed out. But Zaha wanted to join them and he won't stay at Palace forever. I think he would have made a difference to Arsenal. He's better than Nicolas Pepe. He draws players towards him and makes things happen.
"It's a good time to buy him. You'd get him a bit cheaper and he's a better player now than he was when they tried before. I think Pepe goes this summer if they can find a buyer, and sooner or later they will try Gabriel Martinelli up front.”
Hamstring permitting, Zaha could be playing against Arsenal for the final time on Monday night. It remains to be seen whether the Gunners will return to their previous interest in the summer, but more speculation over Zaha’s future appears likely.
