Paul Merson expressed his ‘shock’ at Wilfried Zaha’s securing a free transfer to Galatasaray from Crystal Palace after he thought Tottenham Hotspur would want to sign him.
It was known for a while that the 30-year-old was going to head for the Crystal Palace exit door on a free transfer because his contract was running down.
It was just a case of which club would the speedster join. A move to another Premier League side? To the ever-growing Saudi League? Or across Europe?
Well, Wilfried Zaha opted to ply his trade for Turkish giants Galatasaray and Merson stated ‘no disrespect’ but he didn’t think he would end up in Turkey’s top-tier given that he was a free transfer, as he told Sky Sports News (19/08/23 at 12:20 pm).
Tottenham did make a free-transfer signing this summer, as well as adding James Maddison to their attack and signing up Dejan Kulusevski on a permanent basis.
But, even though they knew Harry Kane was leaving for Bayern Munich, they still opted against bringing in Zaha for nothing, even though it’s a deal that has got Daniel Levy’s name all over it.
“Zaha, we were talking about 8, 9 or ten months ago. Free transfer. Who is going to have him?” said Merson. “Could he go back to Man United? Would Arsenal have him? I thought Tottenham would definitely have him.
“All of a sudden, no disrespect to Turkish football, he is playing at Galatasaray and you are quite shocked, on a free transfer.”
Tottenham’s forward line still needs adding to
After beating Manchester United over the weekend, Spurs fans are flying high because of the style of football that Ange Postecoglou has brought to the table.
But that doesn’t mean that Spurs shouldn’t add more quality and numbers to their forward line because it is needed.
Perhaps it’s a case of having to get rid of players first because there are a few faces that might no longer have a future at the club, such as Eric Dier.
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