Zaha was heavily linked with a move away from Crystal Palace this season, with Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, and Borussia Dortmund all reportedly interested.
Wilfried Zaha wasn’t expected to still be at Crystal Palace this season after his performances last season saw him linked with several clubs.
The Ivory Coast international was linked with Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur, and Chelsea over the course of the summer but with no one willing to pay his fee, he was there to score Palace’s second against Fulham on Saturday.
Zaha is adamant that none of the speculation ever had an effect on his commitment to Palace, with the Daily Mail reporting him as saying: “It makes no difference to me because I had my head down anyway.
“All that stuff was not going to affect me or how the team were playing – whatever happens, happens.
“But I’m all Palace, and you can see on the pitch that all I think about is the team doing well.”
And now that the winger is staying, he can focus on his main motivation: proving people wrong.
“The main thing for me is scoring goals,” said Zaha. “Everyone talks about ‘no end product, no end product’. Well, tell me now.”
Zaha has certainly seen an upturn in his goalscoring over the past two years; the 25-year-old has scored more in each of his last two Premier League seasons than he managed in the previous three combined.
His goal on the opening day took him level with Chris Armstrong as Palace’s top Premier League goalscorer – a record he will surely break soon – and now the focus has shifted away from where he could go to exactly how long he could stay.
“We are still speaking about it, still negotiating, whatever,” said Zaha on a potential new contract at Selhurst Park. “Just going to see if we can come to an agreement.”
Having him just for this season feels like a bonus – any longer and Palace have a player they could build something quite special around.
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