I think like Simon Jordan mentioned on Talksport before yes footballers are overpaid and they get far more then they ever believed. But the economics of giving Zaha a new contract makes sense. Say Zaha was given a 5 year contract (£200,000) that is an extra £70k on his reported current salary. The total extra cost over 5 years is around £18m. It is very hard to find a player like Zaha for £20m plus the new player you will need to pay his salary which would probably be at least £70,000/week so that is a £20m transfer fee plus £18m over 5 years salary for a player on £70k a week total cost = £38m as opposed to giving Wilf a new contract = £18m so it is £20m less. Simon Jordan also mentioned Zaha probably has the same talent as Mahrez. If you put Zaha in a Liverpool or City he would get unreal numbers. Palace are set up differently to the bigger sides and they play a certain way.

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Plus Zaha is proven in the EPL there is no doubt whether he can perform at the highest level or not. Can easily score 10+ EPL goals a season something which Palace strikers cannot do. His goals will earn Palace more money because the higher you finish in the table the more prize money you get.

Now this is the issue. Palace need to reassure him and improve the squad (RB, midfielder and clinical striker) I think what is stopping him signing the contract is whether Palace have ambition to really go as high as they can e.g. top 8 possibly into Europe with momentum. To have a chance of that they need a striker who scores over 13 EPL goals a season, another midfielder and RB for sure. If Palace can get additional signings and Zaha to stay then they can become an established top 10 EPL side for sure year on year fighting for Europe in some seasons and potentially winning something e.g. an FA CUP, EFL CUP if luck is on their side. If Zaha was playing against Forest I think Palace win that game you can see how much he was missed.

Really? You are talking about a man who has scored just ONE goal since the World Cup and provided a meagre 3 assists all season. I don't think his presence in the Forest game would have made a blind bit of difference had he been fit. Just my opinion, of course.

Zaha has been a wonderful player for us - the emphasis, though, is on has been. He is on the decline and his injury record in recent months is worrying. Once the hamstring keeps going (is it 3 times now in less than 4 months?) things go rapidly downhill - just ask McArthur.

It's time Zaha moved on and we moved on as well.

The hamstring injury recurrence just says to me that it hasn't had time to recover fully... over a summer period of rest, I expect he will be ok. 10 mill for 4 years for somebody of his calibre...I think that's more than a good trade for somebody who still brings a lot to the club. I'd rather we kept him than buy another unknown quantity. I mean Edouard and Mateta have cost more than enough to remind Palace that paying a ton of money doesn't always bring you a successful gap filler of a player. Zaha would still be far more effective than them even if he is slightly slower... he has a killer instinct still, isn't afraid to shoot, chases smost of the balls, can get past a player.... now let me know if edouard... or Mateta do that frequently. There's also a reason why every manager will consistently play Zaha and speak highly of his ability.

Edited by CpfcWeTrust1 (03 Jun 2023 6.54pm)

Exactly Edouard's highest EPL goals in a season are 6, Mateta's is 5, Ayew's is 9, Eze is 10 and Zaha's is 14 goals. Keeping Zaha, Eze and Olise will help Palace finish as high as they can Zaha creates chances and scores. Imagine how many goals a clinical striker at Palace would score when you have Zaha, Eze and Olise on the pitch together that is a dream more a clinical strikers you have a lot of goal opportunities (4-2-3-1 formation)

Anyone else seen the Zaha mural that has gone up on corner of park and holmesdale Road??

I was just thinking to myself that would be slightly odd were he to leave end of season?

I’m assuming this is past week or so? I can’t recall seeing it but I am the type to walk past 900 times completely oblivious and all over social media.

Too much emotion in modern football is a dangerous thing.
Football has become totally ruthless and it’s important for our continued progress we follow that line.
Three seasons ago Wilf was taking players on and leaving them for dust. Not anymore. When he recently took a player on by the main stand he was upended and ended up with a 3 match injury. In the past three seasons Wilf has taken a hell of à hammering and it is showing. He is slowing down.
All this talk of £40m wages over 4 years being good value is insanity. We just cannot come even close to affording it and frankly it puts him at a wage level he is simply not worth.
Wilf and his agents have made a lousy job of getting him what he wanted and now that ship has long sailed.
We need to play the hard game now. He is out of contract. If we offer a new contract it must be in line with club policy. £80k/wk for 1 year absolute tops. But consider his condition very carefully.
Wilf should accept what football offers him and be on the next plane to Saudi. £12m/year tax free for three years is way too much to ignore. Its ludicrous but real. His hopeless agents should talk him into it.
Palace in the meantime needs to focus on our future not our past.