Roy Hodgson comments on Wilfried Zaha’s situation

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Everton have missed out on Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha.

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson has told Sky Sports that winger Wilfried Zaha has ‘beef’ with the club’s hierarchy after his move to Everton fell through.

The Eagles have spent most of the summer fending off interest from Arsenal in star winger Zaha, who hit 10 goals and five assists last season.

Arsenal eventually backed away as they signed Nicolas Pepe instead, but Palace then had to stand firm amid strong interest from Everton.

Zaha missed training today as Sky Sports claim Everton failed to reach Palace’s £80million asking price, offering £70million plus players instead.

Zaha asked to leave Palace on Wednesday, but the English transfer deadline has now passed, meaning the 26-year-old won’t be joining Everton.

The Toffees are instead focusing on a last-gasp deal for Arsenal winger Alex Iwobi, meaning they are unlikely to be back in for Zaha in January either.

Manager Hodgson has now commented as the move failed to materialise, admitting that Zaha simply wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be in training, and it’s unclear whether he’ll play for Palace this weekend – ironically, against Everton.

Hodgson added that Palace now expect Zaha to remain professional with Palace, suggesting that his beef with the chairman and the owners as they wouldn’t let him go, but expects him to honour his contract and give his all for the club.

“He’s an important player for the club. We are looking forward to him doing this season, what he’s done for the last two seasons,” said Hodgson. “He wasn’t really in the right frame of mind today, so I sent him home today which is understandable. It’s been well documented that he’s wanted to leave but it has not worked out for him in that respect. He’s a professional and has got a good contract with us. He’s very much a player we respect and I believe he respects us.”

“We expect him to come back and do what he does and we’re looking forward to a season with him again. Everyone here has a good relationship with him. There’s not a problem with that. His beef is with the chairman and owners of the club because he’s wanted to leave and they haven’t received the offer that they think is sufficient to allow him to leave. He has to come to terms with that, when you sign long term contracts you are expected to honour them and we expect him to do that,” he added.