Chelsea have reportedly revived their interest in Wilfried Zaha and are exploring a late deal to sign the Crystal Palace winger before the transfer window closes on Thursday.
The Ivory Coast attacker has been a target for the Blues for a number of years, although Palace set an asking price of £90million for their talismanic star last summer.
That figure is likely to have come down significantly, given that Zaha only has one year left on his contract.
While Patrick Vieira has no intention of losing the 29-year-old, the Eagles boss is fully aware of Zaha’s desire to play Champions League football.
Chelsea have been looking to close a deal for Barcelona striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. However, Barca’s asking price of £30m is proving too steep for a 33-year-old, while Manchester United are also showing an interest.
Thomas Tuchel wants to bolster his forward line after losing both Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner this summer.
To that end, The Independent reports that the Blues have revived their interest in Zaha. They are expected to have dialogue with Palace to see if a deal can be done this week.
The report does not add how much the Selhurst Park outfit would be willing to accept. However, Zaha himself is known to be keen on a move across London.
If a deal is to be done, however, it will have to be quick for Palace. They would need to find a replacement and dragging it out until deadline day could end up being detrimental.
Zaha was missing from the Palace side that were beaten 4-2 at Manchester City, having been 2-0 up at half-time.
The forward picked up a leg injury in the 3-1 win over Aston Villa and was missing at The Etihad.
Tough to see where Zaha fits in at Chelsea
Having already signed Raheem Sterling to play on the left-side of Tuchel’s attack, it’s difficult to see where Zaha would fit in.
At Palace, he predominantly plays where Sterling is at his best but can also play centrally or on the right.
Bringing in Aubameyang to play down the middle makes more sense. However, if Chelsea refuse to cough up Barcelona’s asking price then Zaha is a proven Premier League performer.
He could even take his game to another level working under Tuchel at Stamford Bridge.
