Manchester United are set to concluding a deal for Crystal Palace wonderkid Wilfried Zaha after the London club’s negotiating position is weakened by the absence of other potential bidders.
The 20-year-old has been targeted by almost all of the top clubs in England while La Liga giants Real Madrid had also expressed their interest at some point of time.
Sir Alex Ferguson has stayed back from his squad’s warm-weather training in Qatar which puts him in pole position to wrap a deal for the youngster in the next 48 hours.
The Red Devils have tabled an initial offer of £5 million for the winger with extra £5 million as add-ons. Palace, who initially slapped a price-tag of £20 million to fend off interests from other clubs, would still be looking to command a minimum fee of £12 million, as failing to do so could see a huge backlash from the fans.
Manchester United have refused to comply with the demands of £15 million for Zaha though the Scotsman remains determined to complete the deal within the January transfer window.
Zaha was heavily linked with a move to Arsenal, mainly thought to be a potential replacement of Theo Walcott whose contract situation was a big talking point then. Now the 23-year-old has committed his future at the club, Arsene Wenger, manager of Arsenal rubbished the rumours of him going hell for leather for Wilfried Zaha rather insisted he was never interested at all for the player.
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish comforted the fans by saying Zaha will be remaining at the club till the summer under any possible circumstances. He was quoted as saying by the press:
“Right now, he’s a Crystal Palace player and he’ll be a Crystal Palace player in the summer. That’s the only thing I can tell you.
“He’ll definitely be playing for us until the end of May whatever happens. I’ve said it countless times – there’s no way the player is going to leave the club in January.
“That’s where we are and that’s where we’ve always been with it.”
As it stands, Manchester United are in pole position to land the England international and then will loan him back to the English Championship club for the reminder of the season. They will hold further talks in the next 24 hours and will be looking to finalize the deal at the earliest.
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