AS Roma are reportedly weighing up a move for Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha.
The Ivorian international is entering the final year of his contract at Selhurst Park and has so far made no moves to extend his stay at his boyhood club, where he has made over 400 appearances and scored 83 goals.
Last season saw Zaha fire in a career-best 15 goals for Palace, where he struck up a strong relationship with new manager Patrick Vieira. The winger finished the campaign as the Eagles’ top goalscorer and scored his 50th Premier League goal in the process, making him the first Palace player to reach the milestone.
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Zaha's long-term future has been a hot topic of discussion in years gone by, with the player previously being a target for Arsenal in the transfer window back in 2019, only to see Palace reject the Gunners' £40million bid. Now, with the possibility that Palace might lose Zaha on a free next summer, there are murmurings over whether the Croydon-born star could leave sooner.
According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Zaha's name has been brought up by AS Roma, whose manager Jose Mourinho is reportedly a big fan of the winger. Romano says that the inaugural Europa Conference League champions are yet to open any kind of formal discussions with Palace but that the option has been considered internally.
Vieira would not like to lose Zaha ahead of the new season, especially as he plays an important role both on and off the pitch for the club. On it, his goals and bursts of creativity in the final third have regularly helped pull Palace through games at crucial moments - only Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah (both seven) contributed more match-winning goals than Zaha (six) did last season.
Off the pitch, his position as an academy graduate and senior member of the dressing room make him an ideal role model for younger players. Among the current crop of young first-team forwards, Michael Olise, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Luke Plange and Malcolm Ebiowei have all named Zaha as somebody they look up to and hope to learn from.
"When you talk about Crystal Palace, you talk about Wilfried Zaha," said Vieira in May. "He's been at this club, and he's been doing fantastically well. And again, as a manager, of course, I would love to keep him, but he needs to want to be here.
"This season, I think he showed to everybody what this football club means to him because he's been performing well and scoring goals. I believe that he can still take himself to a different level and help the team to grow."
With Vieria's stance clear on the matter and the club likely to only seriously consider an offer for Zaha if the fee being offered is too good to refuse, it would seem that, for now, the Palace icon is staying put. Should Roma and Mourinho step up their interest, however, the club's resolve might well be tested.
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