According to Evening Standard, Everton are ready to rival Arsenal in the pursuit of Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha this summer.
The Ivory Coast international is keen to leave Selhurst Park this summer, but the club have slapped £80 million on his head in order to dissuade the Gunners and other suitors.
However, Palace’s huge valuation of Zaha hasn’t stopped Everton from registering an interest, and they seem ready to break the bank and make 26-year-old their club-record signing, as majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri has shown in the past he is willing to spend big in the transfer market.
The Goodison Park outfit paid Swansea £40 million (with £5 million in potential add-ons) for the services of Gylfi Sigurðsson in the summer of 2017, while Watford received £35 million – potentially rising to £50 million – for Richarlison last summer.
Zaha scored 10 goals and assisted five others last term, and adding him to an attack already consisting of the Brazilian forward will be a huge boost to Everton’s European football hopes.
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who reportedly was keen on a reunion with the winger earlier this summer, once compared the Palace star with Cristiano Ronaldo, and he still has time to fulfill his potential at the top of the game.
Zaha has expressed his desire to play in the Champions League, and while Everton can’t immediately offer that, breaking into top-four is in their long-term plans, and while it remains to be seen if he would fancy joining them, he could help them with achieving it.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
