Wilfried Zaha may not be happy with it, but he is staying at Crystal Palace.
Palace boss Roy Hodgson spoke to Sky Sports News outside of their training ground on transfer Deadline Day and confirmed he had sent Zaha home from training on Thursday as he “wasn’t in the right frame of mind” to train.
Zaha handed in a transfer request on Wednesday and even though he stated his wish to leave on multiple occasions, he is going nowhere.
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Hodgson said that Palace are “satisfied with what they’ve been able to do” in the window, but most of all they are delighted to keep Zaha at Selhurst Park as several clubs failed to stump up the $100 million they wanted for their star winger.
“Yes he is staying. Absolutely. We are pleased about that,” Hodgson said. “He is an important player for the club. We are looking forward to him doing this season what he has done for the last two seasons... Obviously, today he wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I sent him home today which is understandable. Last day. Transfer window. It has been well documented that he has wanted to leave. It’s not worked out for him in that respect. He is a professional and has a good contract with us. He is very much a player that we respect, and I believe he respects us here. We expect him to come back and do what he does. We are looking forward to having a season with us again.”
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Hodgson went on to say that he has a very positive relationship with the Ivory Coast international, but that probably isn’t the same with the owners and chairman Steve Parrish as both Everton and Arsenal wanted to sign Zaha but he is still a Palace player.
“Everyone here has a good relationship with him here. There is not a problem with that. His beef is with the owners and chairman of the club,” Hodgson said. “He has wanted to leave and they haven’t received the offer they think is sufficient to allow him to leave. He has to come to terms with that. When you sign long-term contracts you are expected to honor them. We certainly expect him to do that. I don’t have any issues with him at all but today wasn’t the right day. I’m looking forward to seeing him tomorrow and hopefully he comes to terms with the fact that he has another season with Crystal Palace.”
Even though Napoli have put in a bid for Palace’s star player in the past, he is not expected to leave before the start of September when the summer window closes in Italy.
Zaha, 26, has spoken publicly about his desire to leave Palace this summer and chase UEFA Champions League action but he hasn’t got his wish.
It will be intriguing to see how this plays out and if Zaha can refocus and lift Palace away from a relegation scrap and towards the top 10.