There are now conflicting reports concerning Tottenham Hotspur’s c in Crystal Palace midfielder Wilfried Zaha.
First, from Tom Allnutt at the Press Association, who claims that Spurs are done, and aren’t ready to stump up the cash necessary to land Zaha from Palace.
No more #thfc bids for Zaha. Palace made their position clear and Spurs have moved on. #cpfc
— Tom Allnutt (@tomallnuttPA) August 30, 2016
While Spurs reportedly did make a bid for the speedy winger late last week, Palace’s chairman Steve Parish was pretty unequivocal in rejecting those overtures. Now, according to Allnut, Spurs are ready to move on.
But hold up! There’s more! Because Ed Aarons at the Guardian is painting a different picture.
Told reports that Tottenham have ended their interest in Wilfried Zaha may be premature... #cpfc #thfc
— Ed Aarons (@ed_aarons) August 30, 2016
So it’s Press Association vs. The Guardian. JOURNO FIGHT!
Zaha clearly wanted to come to Spurs, but he’s a key player for Alan Pardew and it would probably take a much bigger bid than the one Spurs made, which was reportedly around £12m. Depending on who you believe Spurs may or may not have made a second offer of £18m which was also rejected.
I’m actually okay if the Zaha thing doesn’t pan out. Zaha is a perfectly fine player, and could’ve actually added a different look to Spurs’ offense, but despite Poche apparently rating him it’s not clear if he’d be worth the outlay. So I’d be fine if we move on. Moreover, I suspect that I’m going to be a little annoyed if we put in a big bid of over £20m to land a player that may or may not be better than Georges-Kevin N’Koudou, and is several years older.
Spurs are reportedly not yet done in the window, though most of the business lately has been outgoing instead of incoming. Mauricio Pochettino has said that Spurs are likely to sign 1-3 players before the close of the window.