Arsenal are set to try prize another star away from Crystal Palace as they continue to pursue forward Wilfried Zaha.
Per BBC reporter and Arsenal fan favourite David Ornstein as well as Sky Sports, the London-based club have submitted an offer of £40m for the 26-year-old which has been rejected. The player is reportedly keen to move but with Palace already losing Aaron Wan-Bissaka to Manchester United they do not want to lose their prized asset and value him at £80m.
Given their budget of around £45m, no owner investment & targets for other positions also being pursued, Arsenal would need Crystal Palace to reduce the asking price and/or raise significant funds through sales, in addition to (normal) staggered payment structure #AFC #CPFC #Zaha
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 1, 2019
The player's brother has already spoken publicly on the potential move and explained it is Zaha's "dream" to play for the club he supported as a child. Furthermore, the situation is complicated by the 25% signing on fee Manchester United would command should such a deal proceed.
Unai Emery has yet to make a significant signing this summer and could still raise funds if he sells one of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, Calum Chambers or Shkodran Mustafi.
The last obstacle is that Wilfried Zaha is currently on international duty with Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations and thus his immediate priorities lie elsewhere currently.
