Wilfried Zaha is weighing up a new four-year contract offer worth more than £10m a season to stay at Crystal Palace amid interest from Arsenal, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain but wants assurances over the club’s ambition to qualify for European competition before signing.
The Ivory Coast forward has made more than 400 appearances for Palace and is out of contract in the summer, when a five-year deal worth £130,000 a week will expire. Zaha, who turns 31 in November, is understood to have been offered a contract worth about £200,000 a week that would make him by far the highest-paid player in Palace’s history.
Arsenal – who tried to sign him in 2019 when Unai Emery was manager – Chelsea, PSG, Bayern Munich, Roma and Marseille are believed to have expressed interest in signing Zaha on a free. He is expected to reject a £9m-a-year offer from Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad. Although Palace’s deal is understood to be far the most lucrative on the table and would take Zaha past his 34th birthday, uncertainty over the managerial situation at Selhurst Park and concerns about a lack of progress after a decade of survival in the Premier League are believed to be issues he would like the hierarchy to address.
Roy Hodgson returned to replace Patrick Vieira at Palace after a disastrous start to 2023 of 12 matches without a win, and 10 points from four matches under the former England manager have virtually assured safety. Hodgson, 75, is expected to depart at the end of the season, with Feyenoord’s Arne Slot and Lille’s Paulo Fonseca among those who could come under consideration.
Zaha, having seen Palace’s rivals Brighton progress under Roberto De Zerbi and the success of Brentford and Fulham since being promoted to the top flight, is understood to want Palace to show similar ambition and potentially target a place in Europe. Their net spend in the transfer market of £82m over the past five years is the fifth-lowest in the Premier League, although in Marc Guéhi, Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise the squad possesses three of the most promising young players in the league.
Zaha is expected to delay any decision until the end of the season as Palace attempt to beat their record Premier League points tally of 49. He will resume training this week after a groin injury sustained in the win over Leicester in Hodgson’s first match and is likely to miss out against Wolves on Tuesday before returning against West Ham on Saturday.
