Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has claimed that he doesn’t think “there are any doubts” over the Eagles looking to extend the contract of Wilfried Zaha.
What’s the story?
Speaking to the South London Press, Parish said: “We love Wilfried to bits, but that is a situation that we will discuss with him and his people. We will try and find the right answer for everybody at the right time.”
The Eagles star has enjoyed his best season in front of goal this term with 12 to his name, but the 29-year-old’s current deal is set to expire next summer.
Supporters will be ecstatic
With the Ivorian being a vital cog in the Palace set up for the best part of a decade, supporters will be delighted at the prospect of the club offering him a new contract.
Of course, from Parish’s perspective, attempting to extend the stay of one of the club’s best-ever players is a no brainer. Ultimately, it will come down to whether or not the 29-year-old will want to stay at Selhurst Park.
Zaha has attempted to force transfers away before, with the winger handing in a transfer request back in 2019 in an attempt to join Arsenal, having signed a five-year deal the year before.
However, the Ivory Coast international has since remained in the Palace setup and has seen manager Patrick Vieira enjoy the best of the winger in the Frenchman’s first season in charge at Selhurst Park.
This could well be a contributing factor to attempting to convince the forward to extend his stay.
Since graduating from the Crystal Palace youth set-up in 2010, Zaha has gone on to make 424 appearances for the south Londoners, with a brief spell at Manchester United ultimately proving unsuccessful before a return to Selhurst Park.
In that period, the winger has scored 80 goals for Palace alongside registering 73 assists, making him the Eagles’ 12th highest all-time goalscorer.
Should Palace offer Zaha a new contract?
Besides the efforts of Zaha and Conor Gallagher, who is expected to return to Chelsea this summer, goals from other sources have been limited with the likes of Odsonne Edouard (six), Jean-Philippe Mateta (six), Christian Benteke (four) and Jordan Ayew (two) all scoring no more than half of the 29-year-old’s current tally for the campaign.
Therefore, the prospect of the Palace star signing a new deal will have supporters ecstatic.
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