Palace do not want to sell so are taking the mickey.
If it were up to me, i would do the same by replacing the cash offer with a player exchange equivalent.
I would keep schtum while they talk shit to the tabloids knowing full well that Zaha will come back and kick a fuss from the inside.
He is not our only option and his age/high wages count against him as, like Mustafi, we would never be able to sell if it doesn't work out.

How do you go form £40m+ for Zaha to some nobody from Porto on a free?

I think it's Sanllehi playing the sort of transfer games we're not au fait with at Arsenal. We see this kind negotiating at the other big clubs all the time.

Saw these stats in this Sky Sports article:

I think a lack of a quality ball carrier and someone that can consistently beat his man one-v-one is one of our biggest failings. And why we look so blunt in certain games even when compared to teams that have much less quality than we have. We go whole games without getting a serious shot at goal, this has happened more and more in recent seasons. Even though we have two very good strikers on the pitch most of the time.

My two cents is that Zaha at Arsenal will be a much more productive and valuable player than Zaha at Crystal Palace. He will create space for good players to exploit, shake up opposition defences, and force defenders to make quick decisions and rash tackles. His final ball might even improve with better coaching, better strikers and in entering his prime years as a footballer.

Fuck Palace and Parish, get it done Arsenal.

Agreed. The more I think about it the more I want him, even over some of the more foreign outlandish wingers suggested.

If we manage to sign 2 proper wingers, we might actually be able to get away with no new CM signings. Go the Liverpool model, by pass the mid and give the ball to our wingers ASAP.

He’s perfect for us. He unsettles any defence

Agree, need this sort of directness.
And, Ricky, this links to the other thread. I believe Thuram is already sitting at ₄ successful dribbles/90. He's basically doing half of what all of Arsenal does on his own and he's a raw kid.

I'm all for it if it doesn't eat up our entire budget. Others where you have more bang for buck and theres the injury concern but he'd definitely be a much needed threat on the wing

All we need now is his brother giving interviews how Parish is holding him hostage and Ricky assaulting him on Bond Street with a bruised banana kit

I'm starting to warm to the idea that Zaha could impact our attack in the way that Sterling did for Man city. The two are different levels of quality but a bit similar in so far as having polished their micro-second decision making from sufficient experience in the Prem. They're both comfortable down the left, both at ease as facilitators or off the shoulder recipients of the final action. He'd give an extra 10% wearing the shirt too.

All in all a shit circumstance given we once held on to Chamberlain and Gnabry

Based on all this, what do people think he's worth?

Claudius wrote:

Based on all this, what do people think he's worth?

Assuming if we have cash and based on current market inflation I wouldn't hesitate to throw 60m at him. 

£50m + Jenkinson is a fair offer.

Ray wrote:

£50m + Jenkinson is a fair offer.

LOL. Nobody wants Jenkinson. He needs to go to the Championship or SPL. 

Those figures are not fair as Zaha was the main man and the other 2 were bit-part players.
e: Not saying they are not impressive, mind!

To answer Claudius' question, my opinion on him remains the same.
I still think he is a £40m player tops as he will not have any resale value after 4/5 years and it would be in his interest to do a Flamini at the end of it.

Ziyech and Zaha as wingers would be exciting to watch, fund it through Laca and Ozil sales.

Claudius wrote:

Ray wrote:

£50m + Jenkinson is a fair offer.

LOL. Nobody wants Jenkinson. He needs to go to the Championship or SPL. 

That'd be fair enough. They're missing a right back now and after the deal they're going to the Championship

I'm immediately sceptical when a graphic like that uses numbers like that instead of per 90 minutes.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

I'm immediately sceptical when a graphic like that uses numbers like that instead of per 90 minutes.

I suspect half of footie fans don't think in PERs. 

I think the majority of large deals are structured over a number of years, mainly for cash flow reasons I’d imagine. It’s very unlikely that any clubs outside of the oil clubs, top Spanish clubs or United pay all their fee up front in one payment.

Oh I wasn't really arguing against that more I've seen some claims that this is evidence that the £40m budget is false but by structuring deals like this then it sort of supports the we only have £40m for this window.

Does feel like this £45m is a load of guff designed to ensure we get value in the market

Bold Tone wrote:

Those figures are not fair as Zaha was the main man and the other 2 were bit-part players.

You are right it completely invalidates the comparison aspect of those figures.
My bad!

Not sure if you're sarcastic or not, but it does.

He is right as i already said.
Straight forward common sense failure on my part.
Oranges and apples is the analogy that springs to mind.

It will take a while but this will get done. Possibly even on deadline day. Buckle up everyone.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert wrote:

For the kind of money we're rumoured to be willing to spend there has to be better or equal targets out there. I'm certain that Chiesa could be had for less this summer for instance. Bloke's got everything we could dream of in his toolbox, and he's fluent in English too.

Anything over £50m for Zaha would be a massive misuse of our resources.

Zaha has gone from overrated to underrated now.

Hardly anybody stretches defences as well as Zaha in the league.

Qwiss! wrote:

Anything over £50m for Zaha would be a massive misuse of our resources.

Agree. 

Zaha is a player of similar quality to what Mane was when Liverpool got him. The latter has obviously gone up a level, but whatever his price was it sure wasn't 70m. The market hasn't inflated that much since then.

Zaha is exactly what we need. Great mix of athletic ability and skill

On the money issue - I would rather we overspend a bit than underspend this summer. This guy will elevate our attack. It’s time to pass Chelsea

Think people are both worrying too much about money and underrating Zaha. He's an elite PL player, proven, entering his prime. Better than Mahrez.

Elite PL player? He’s not the EPL equivalent of Figo was back in the day.

Or Overmars, Pires or Giggs. That is what I think of as ‘elite’. He’s more like your Ashley Young at Villa.

Claudius wrote:

On the money issue - I would rather we overspend a bit than underspend this summer. This guy will elevate our attack. It’s time to pass Chelsea

Coombs wrote:

Think people are both worrying too much about money and underrating Zaha. He's an elite PL player, proven, entering his prime. Better than Mahrez.

Literally nobody on here cares about us spending too much money. It's where we choose to spend whatever sum we have that people care about.

If we sign Zaha and don't address our other issues, then feel free to criticize. Otherwise we're just projecting based on very vague and likely inaccurate information.

This guy, Martinelli, Tierney, Saliba with Ceballos on loan could be a decent enough summer, although I'd like a more senior CB. If signing Zaha hampers our ability to do that sort of business, then we shouldn't sign him, I'd agree with that.

I think it would be a really bad use of resources, but fuck it, let’s just do it. Would be good to have a top dribbler in the squad.