Vieira comments on Zaha’s future at Crystal Palace

Newly appointed Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira has openly stated his intentions to keep Wilfried Zaha at the club. Over the past few seasons, it has been a recurring theme to see the Ivorian forward linked with an exit from the club.

Zaha has been strongly linked with Arsenal in recent times and came close to completing a move in 2019, before the Gunners opted to sign his compatriot in Nicolas Pepe.

Speaking ahead of his first season in charge of the club, Patrick Vieira has said he is looking forward to working with Zaha. This comes after the 28-year-old reportedly told the club he was seeking to secure a move elsewhere. However, links from Arsenal or any club at all with Zaha have gone rather quiet, and that has given Vieira some sort of confidence regarding the player.

Vieira remains confident about keeping Zaha

Speaking about the player’s future, Vieira acknowledged the player’s quality while hailing him as one of the best in the league. The 45-year-old also gave a brief comment on the club’s transfer policy.

Vieira said to Sky Sports that he’s been keeping an eye on Zaha in the last few years and that he’s aware of his situation. Regardless, he claims that both Zaha and he are on the same page and states that he fondly anticipates working with him.

He also adds that Zaha is one of the most skilled players in the league and would rather not lose him.

Time is running out for Zaha

It is more than obvious that Zaha wanted to leave Palace for a while now. If anything at all, his comments have confirmed that severally. However, Crystal Palace have continued to play hardball regarding his valuation, and that could disrupt the plans of any potential transfer.

At 28, time is running out for him to secure a move to one of the ‘bigger’ sides, and he is the one on the losing end in this scenario.

However, he has only two years left on his current contract, and Crystal Palace can choose to let him run down the length of his contract and leave as a free agent.

From a financial point though, it would make more sense for Palace to sell now and gain something off the player, but it’s easy to see why they are hesitant to do so. Zaha just completed a season where he hit his personal league-high tally of 11 goals, and his overall game seems to have improved as well.