Is Tottenham’s wage structure set to cost them Wilfried Zaha’s signature?

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With Crystal Palace manoeuvring and Chelsea hovering, Tottenham’s hopes of signing Wilfried Zaha may have taken a hit.

Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha scores

Wilfried Zaha carried his impressive Ivory Coast form into the Premier League at the weekend, inspiring Crystal Palace to a shock victory over Chelsea.

The winger scored one and set up another in a shock 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge, highlighting why he is so highly coveted.

Tottenham Hotspur have been pursuing his signature for the past year, with The Sun reporting last month they were confident of securing a summer deal.

Their chances of doing so suddenly look questionable, owing to a couple of factors, which both point back to Tottenham’s wage structure threatening to scupper a deal.

Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha

Harry Kane became the club’s most highly paid player earlier this season, netting a £100,000 per week contract, which saw chairman Daniel Levy relent to pressure and agree to commit to the salary, doing so once more with Hugo Lloris.

Kane and Lloris are arguably Tottenham’s two most important players and it is fair that they are earning highly, but whether they would be prepared to put Zaha in the same category is uncertain.

The Guardian report Crystal Palace are opening talks with Zaha over a £110,000 per week contract, potentially more than he would receive at Spurs.

Tottenham would be able to offer Champions League football and a chance to compete for the title, but reports that Chelsea are ready to enter the race negates the advantage have in this regard.

The Guardian claims that the trio of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City are all interested in Zaha’s signature.

All three clubs have players earning wages in the region of, if not more than £200,000 per week.

Even if they choose not to go quite this high for Zaha, they could offer him a package higher than Tottenham’s wage barrier would allow them to commit to, while also offering the perks of playing at the top end of the table.