[Football] The "Where will Zaha go?" Summer 2018 thread

[Mackenzie]

Nobody wanted him except for Arsenal, Liverpool and Marseille, according to that article. The deals collapsed over wage demands, not because the player wasn't good enough.

Parish has seen the Palace wage bill drop by roughly £300k/w this summer, so we can afford to give a signficant chunk of that to a player of outstanding quality, who would likely represent an opportunity to sell on for a huge profit if he performs well.

Good luck with this. I can’t see there being any issues at all in signing him.

 

[ThePaddy]

The two are linked. They obviously didn't think he was "good enough" for the "wage demands" he was making. Admittedly it does look like it could be a huge coup for a side of Palace's size and infrastructure.

I'd agree with you there. Hopefully we can pull it off. I'm still worried that someone will attempt to gazump us at the death.

 

[Marshy]

Nobody wanted him except for Arsenal, Liverpool and Marseille, according to that article. The deals collapsed over wage demands, not because the player wasn't good enough.

Parish has seen the Palace wage bill drop by roughly £300k/w this summer, so we can afford to give a signficant chunk of that to a player of outstanding quality, who would likely represent an opportunity to sell on for a huge profit if he performs well.

Why didn't the other sides do the same then ?

the wage demands is a concern for sure... sounds like a cash cow to me... and you don't need more of them in my opinion.

If I was you I would rather they throw the money wilf's way to get him to stay. At least he wants to play for you.....

 

[bhanutz]

You must know something that I don't. If Zaha and Mahrez weren't the best two players outside the top 6 last season, who was?

Pascal Gross....Next question?

 

[lawros left foot]

Well I've not heard, and if you are at the front of the Q it kind of suggests that he has not had anything ?

that's not meant in a rude way.

Must have been a very short Q.

 

[Swillis]

I'm starting to think that am away section is a good idea. These threads are even boring me.

Yes I know, don't read them, **** off

 

[LlcoolJ]

Parish has seen the Palace wage bill drop by roughly £300k/w this summer, so we can afford to give a signficant chunk of that to a player of outstanding quality

How do you know that you can afford to spend that money?

Your last accounts showed that your wages and player amortisation were higher than your income. The latest accounts, we don't know but they're not going to have improved as you sold fewer players for less money, and that was the only thing preventing you from making a loss of around £20m in the published figures.

Just because the utterly outrageous wage bill has been trimmed by (your estimate) £15m it doesn't mean that you're now swimming in cash to waste on yet another overpaid mercenary.

I'm sure you will waste it though, even if it means a big loss despite £100m+ from the PL. It's the Palace way after all.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Nobody wanted him except for Arsenal, Liverpool and Marseille, according to that article. The deals collapsed over wage demands, not because the player wasn't good enough.

He's a really good player. His best position (where he played last year for Shalke) is where Milivojovic plays, so someone will have to adapt. However, on your point above - those are just the ones where the interest went public. He's a young, current international, available to sign on a 'free'. Literally EVERY top league side in every one of Europe's main league will at least have had a look, and weighed up whether he was worth going in for, at the signing-on fee and wage figures his agent will have been happy to tout.

Literally a 100 clubs or more. So far only ONE of them, has decided that he is value, at the figures demanded.

 

[Mellotron]

You must know something that I don't. If Zaha and Mahrez weren't the best two players outside the top 6 last season, who was?

A cursory glance (I've only included non-top 6 players, for obvious reasons) searching top players of the 17-18 season:

To show no selective bias, these are the first 3 links I clicked on.

Forbes has a top 10 players of the 17/18 season, chosen by scouts (i.e. people who know their football). James Tarkowski is in the list ahead of WZ. Zaha does not feature in the top 10 they list.
FourFourTwo has Jamal Lascelles and Richarlison ahead of him. Again, Zaha is not in the top 10 list.
The Daily Star has a Top 30 based on stats - Doucoure, Richarlison, Pascal GroB, Mooy, Pope,Tarkowski - all ahead of Zaha in terms of their effectiveness this season. Zaha does not feature at all in the top 30 Prem players of the 17/18 season.

Wilf Zaha is a good footballer - no one bar an idiot disputes that. He is however NOWHERE NEAR as good as you have convinced yourself he is, and Palace fans have a history of overexaggerating their players quality - "Joniesta"

 

[ThePaddy]

Pascal Gross....Next question?

Good one. Gross was an excellent signing for you and is certainly worth far more than you paid for him, but he's not in the same ballpark as Zaha and you know it.

 

[Bozza]

I'd agree with you there. Hopefully we can pull it off. I'm still worried that someone will attempt to gazump us at the death.

Unlikely, from the day he first kicked a football his dream was to pull on the famous red and blue stripes and ply his trade in one of world football's most iconic stadia.

Nothing could stop him completing his dream move.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Palace fans have a history of overexaggerating their players quality - "Joniesta"

To be fair to Joniesta, he still has time on his side. If he continues to develop as Palace fans expect, he might even go on to emulate their last galactico-in-waiting, John Bostock

 

[Mellotron]

Good one. Gross was an excellent signing for you and is certainly worth far more than you paid for him, but he's not in the same ballpark as Zaha and you know it.

Well, he was far more effective on the pitch than Zaha, he might be worse at keep ups or falling over, that much is true.

 

[saafend_seagull]

As said earlier he’s 50 games without a goal in the league. Also, no assists in the last 26 games. And for the fella that said he’s playing defensive, he’s 76th in tackles per game. Bernardo however is 38th. You can also looks at blocks, Bernardo is 62nd, max Meyer is 133rd.

He does however have good interception stats. That’s about the only thing he’s performing well at.

Who scored ranks him as the 181st best player in bundesliga last year.

 

[ThePaddy]

A cursory glance (I've only included non-top 6 players, for obvious reasons) searching top players of the 17-18 season:

To show no selective bias, these are the first 3 links I clicked on.

Forbes has a top 10 players of the 17/18 season, chosen by scouts (i.e. people who know their football). James Tarkowski is in the list ahead of WZ. Zaha does not feature in the top 10 they list.
FourFourTwo has Jamal Lascelles and Richarlison ahead of him. Again, Zaha is not in the top 10 list.
The Daily Star has a Top 30 based on stats - Doucoure, Richarlison, Pascal GroB, Mooy, Pope,Tarkowski - all ahead of Zaha in terms of their effectiveness this season. Zaha does not feature at all in the top 30 Prem players of the 17/18 season.

Wilf Zaha is a good footballer - no one bar an idiot disputes that. He is however NOWHERE NEAR as good as you have convinced yourself he is, and Palace fans have a history of overexaggerating their players quality - "Joniesta"

How interesting.

The Telegraph (the first link I clicked on) "best players outside the top 6 according to our experts" features Zaha 3 times, more than any other player.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...gue-player-outside-top-six-club-experts-have/

The Daily Star article I clicked on next had Zaha at no2
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/f...side-Big-Six-clubs-teams-stats-sportgalleries

I also found an article from FourFourTwo on the best players outside the top 6. Zaha was third behind Vardy and Mahrez.
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/ranked-14-best-players-outside-premier-leagues-big-six?page=0,1

 

[Mellotron]

How interesting.

The Telegraph (the first link I clicked on) "best players outside the top 6 according to our experts" features Zaha 3 times, more than any other player.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...gue-player-outside-top-six-club-experts-have/

The Daily Star article I clicked on next had Zaha at no2
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/f...side-Big-Six-clubs-teams-stats-sportgalleries

I also found an article from FourFourTwo on the best players outside the top 6. Zaha was third behind Vardy and Mahrez.
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/ranked-14-best-players-outside-premier-leagues-big-six?page=0,1

I searched "best players of the 17-18 season". What was your Google search exactly? Just so I can corroborate it...

If we combine our two searches, it would suggest that overall (being incredibly kind to you, given the search results that came up for me), most see Zaha as about the 5th or 6th best player outside the top 6 clubs.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I searched "best players of the 17-18 season". What was your Google search exactly?

"best players called Wilf in the league"


Unfortunately Bony was injured for a good chunk of the season, so Zaha came top.

 

[ThePaddy]

Well, he was far more effective on the pitch than Zaha, he might be worse at keep ups or falling over, that much is true.

If you repeat this enough times you might even be able to convince yourself!

 

[lawros left foot]

To be fair to Joniesta, he still has time on his side. If he continues to develop as Palace fans expect, he might even go on to emulate their last galactico-in-waiting, John Bostock

John Bostock, what happened to him after his mega money move to Real, he kind of slipped off the radar after his 3rd Ballon D’or.

 

[Bozza]

I'm happy for Wilf to take the title, if he wants it.

"Best player to not be playing for a top 6 side" - every kid's dream right there.