January 17 2013

Wilfried Zaha

Arsenal are ready to hijack Manchester United's bid for Crystal Palace starlet Wilfried Zaha.

United have reportedly made a high cash offer which includes loaning Zaha back for the rest of the campaign.

Chief executive David Gill would not confirm this, but did say: "He is one of the players that we are looking at. That is all I will say at the moment.

"I've been in football long enough to say that is not done until it's done. He's one of the players we are looking at, but it is far from done."

Now Arsene Wenger, who has irked Palace boss Ian Holloway for showing his admiration for Zaha, has thrown the Gunners' hat into the ring.

"We are looking at Zaha, but there has been no bid," Wenger said. "Whenever you call about any player, Man United or Milan are also interested."

Holloway is getting increasingly annoyed at the constant Zaha speculation and had a rant at the media following Palace's FA Cup defeat at Stoke on Tuesday night.

He said: "If I say Wilf’s out for six months, will that stop you all talking about him? It’s never-ending, why don’t you get a life?

"I hate the January transfer window because all there is, is talk and speculation. It doesn’t help Wilf and it doesn’t help me. The pundits on TV spend all day with their charts on who might go where – it’s boring isn’t it?"