According to the latest reports, Premier League side Arsenal are looking to make an improved bid for Crystal Palace superstar winger Wilfried Zaha in the summer transfer window to bolster their squad. The Gunners had a £40m bid rejected on Monday by the Eagles as Palace view their talisman in the price range of around £80m.
Unai Emery arrived at the helm at Arsenal back in the summer of 2018 and had the big job of replacing the legendary Arsene Wenger as manager. The 69-year-old Frenchman was in charge of Arsenal for 22 long years and won quite a few honors with the club, including three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups during his reign in North London. But during his final few seasons in charge with Arsenal, Wenger wasn’t able to adapt to the newer generation of managers and players and was usually outwitted. Even the most ardent of supporters at Arsenal wanted him out of the club because they were crying some fresh air at the Emirates Stadium.
Their prayers were answered when Unai Emery was appointed last summer and the Spanish boss guided Arsenal to a fifth-place finish in the Premier League table. At the start of the season, most of his summer signings hit the ground running as he began to imply his philosophy onto the players. Emery took Arsenal on an unbeaten streak of 22 games across all competitions and a top-four berth looked quite certain until the final few weeks derailed Arsenal’s campaign. The Gunners lost a bunch of games and suffered bad defeats in the Premier League which meant they would be ineligible to qualify for the Champions League. But Arsenal had another opportunity to make it into the elite competition if they beat Chelsea in the final of the Europa League. But the Blues handed their local London rivals a 4-1 thrashing in Baku indicating that there is plenty of work to be done by Emery if he wants to win titles on a regular basis with Arsenal over the next few seasons.
In order to bolster his squad, Emery was targeting a move for Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha in the summer and had submitted a £40m bid earlier this week for the Ivorian winger. But Palace has rejected the bid from Arsenal as they believe Zaha is worth around £80 million if he is to leave Selhurst Park.
Wilfried Zaha wants to leave @CPFC and @Arsenal are expected to make an offer for the forward, Sky Sports News understands.
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 28, 2019
Zaha has also hinted that he wants a move to the Emirates Stadium in the summer as it was the club he supported while growing up. Arsenal are now willing to make an improved offer for the star winger over the next week or so in order to convince Palace to sell. However, if Arsenal go beyond their £40m transfer budget, they will risk losing most of their summer funds to sign 26-year-old Zaha.
If Arsenal are unable to afford Zaha and the deal is a bust at the end of the day, they will look to snap up a deal for Barcelona’s Malcom at a cheaper price.
