This post has been merged from a topic called 'The Wilfried Zaha Thread' by Midlands Eagle

If this is going to happen, we need a bid in for Iwobi or someone similar now.

We cannot lose Zaha and not sign a big name winger today.

And the club had better hope that Maxim turns out to be rubbish at Newcastle, otherwise that'll start looking like a blindingly obvious miss very quickly.

26th January 2010 - Enter Administration
2nd May 2010 - D-Day 1 - Survival at Hillsborough
1st June 2010 - D-Day 2 - Survival at Lloyds
7th June 2010 - CPFC2010 exchange contracts.

This post has been merged from a topic called 'The Wilfried Zaha Thread' by Midlands Eagle

I think the point Zaha is missing is that a “reasonable offer” doesn’t mean just asking price. Timing is important too. An £80m offer at 4:45pm today isn’t reasonable however would have been seen as reasonable two weeks ago.

This post has been merged from a topic called 'The Wilfried Zaha Thread' by Midlands Eagle

I too heard about the gentleman’s agreement in return for signing a lengthy money enhancing contract and believe it may be true, however you can bet the conversation didn’t include handing in a transfer request a day before the window closes if the situation didn’t suit Wilf.

Wilf will have known two things when that agreement was struck.

1) it would have to be at a price that suited the club.
2) the club would have to be in a position to replace him once the situation arose.

These are all reasonable things to ask. If we could get Sarr in or Maximin (that boat has now sailed), then fair enough but we could be left without our star player and no replacement and lord knows who will be available in January and at what price.

Not sure who is to blame in this, Parish, Wilf, probably both. All we know now is that we will have an answer by the end of the day. All in all a very unsatisfactory situation.

This post has been merged from a topic called 'The Wilfried Zaha Thread' by Midlands Eagle

If I were Parish I’d be on the phone to Chelsea to see if they’re interested in a prearrangement.

COYP

This post has been merged from a topic called 'The Wilfried Zaha Thread' by Midlands Eagle

Now that I wholeheartedly endorse.

This post has been merged from a topic called 'The Wilfried Zaha Thread' by Midlands Eagle

my view on the 'gentlemans agreement' is that Wilf has only just woken up and realised that last year he and his ridiculously inept team got well and truly out negotiated last year. So he is cross.

It seems likely what Parish will have wanted from that negotiation is one thing and one thing only. To get the release clause removed out of Wilf's contract.

Somehow he managed to get it done by chucking in an extra 10k a week and then (in my imagination) looked Wilf in the eye and promised that of course he would sell him if they get a reasonable offer in from a top team. He would never hold Wilf back from his dreams.

Of course keeping very quiet about defining what 'reasonable' might mean or even what constitutes a 'top team' - I doubt either of them expected Everton. He even managed to get an extra year on the contract.

Without the release clause Parish is holding out for the big money. Maybe the club really has to have that massive fee to sort out the boardroom, especially after the cut that goes to Man Utd. Maybe it really will allow the stand to be built.

If Wilf hadn't agreed the new contract last year he would have gone already - probably to Arsenal on the cheap - or whatever that release clause was.