The summer transfer window for English clubs is now officially closed, with the brand new season officially getting underway tomorrow with the first scheduled game of Matchweek 1. That, in itself, is a pretty exciting prospect for football fans around the world as we prepare to step into another nine months of utter bedlam. Isn’t football fun?
Of course, there are still a few lingering issues that need to be resolved before we can begin celebrating the return of the beautiful game. One such issue is that of Wilfried Zaha’s future, and while he may be staying where he is as confirmed by manager Roy Hodgson, we just find the whole situation so interesting – to the point where it feels like this is only the beginning.
The tango continues
The 26 year old clearly wants to leave the Eagles and there’s no secret being made about that, but in equal measure, it appears as if he still has a really good working relationship with the club. That’s both odd and really promising in the grand scheme of things.
“Yes, he’s staying, absolutely. We are pleased about that. He’s an important player for the club,” said Hodgson as he drove away from the club’s training ground today.
“We are looking forward to him doing this season, what he’s done for the last two seasons.”
“It’s been well-documented that he’s wanted to leave but it’s not worked out for him in that respect,” said Hodgson.
“I think everyone here has a good relationship with him so there’s not a problem with that.
“His beef is with the chairman and owners of the club because he’s wanted to leave and they haven’t received the offer that they think is sufficient to allow him to leave”.
What does the future hold?
There’s a lot to unpack there, but essentially, it seems as if nobody was really able to meet Palace’s valuation of Zaha. While that seems all well and good it is certainly worth noting that they shifted the actual price of the valuation around about six or seven times, which caused quite a bit of confusion for the likes of Arsenal and Everton (and the fans themselves).
Clarity is obviously the key here and while we appreciate Roy’s honesty, it’ll be fascinating to hear with Zaha himself has to say when he inevitably breaks his silence on this matter. Their attention will now turn towards the weekend when, in a sign of fate, Palace will go head to head with Everton in a game that many believe the man in question won’t play in.
The bookmakers will continue to speculate as to where he’s going to go next and when it’s going to happen, with the January transfer window being pinpointed as the next period of time in which he could depart.
With there being just five months to go until the chaos begins all over again, you can expect the rumour mill to be churning out a series of different stories even though the summer window has just closed.
