Wilfried Zaha has been left devastated after his deadline-day hopes of leaving Crystal Palace to join Everton were dashed.

The situation will also be monitored by Chelsea, who are interested in Zaha and may suggest that he waits for them to make an offer for him next summer, when their transfer ban has expired.

It is understood that Palace will now have to work hard to focus the forward on playing for them again after they refused to sanction the move.

After finally giving up hope of signing Zaha,
Everton moved swiftly with an improved bid of £35 million to bring in Alex Iwobi from Arsenal.

Everton submitted a deal sheet to the Premier League in time for its 5pm deadline, which allowed an extension of two hours to complete the move, which was confirmed at 9.15pm on Thursday evening.

Iwobi, 23, underwent a medical in London, rather than travel to Merseyside, after agreeing a five-year deal.

There was confusion as to exactly how much Everton ended up bidding for Zaha. Club sources suggest they only went as high as £52 million, but it is understood that two further offers were at least proposed, with Everton telling Zaha that they would pursue signing him until Palace finally said no. That came midafternoon on Thursday, with Palace declaring their transfer business was complete after they gave up their own search for a striker.

It is understood that Everton suggested an improved offer of £55 million, plus their striker Cenk Tosun, and then proposed increasing that further to £60 million, but Palace would not budge.

It is understood their original demand was £100 million, but they would have accepted £80 million in cash. Palace’s hard line will have dismayed Zaha, who has been trying to force his way out of the club all summer and submitted a transfer request on Wednesday, having returned to pre-season training on Monday after going on holiday following the Africa Cup of Nations. Zaha hoped that would force the issue and did not train with the rest of the first-team squad yesterday.

Instead, manager Roy Hodgson reasoned it was best the 26-year-old worked on his own, in the gym, before being sent home early.

A £30 million offer for Iwobi was rejected by Arsenal on Wednesday, but they indicated that they would be prepared to do a deal – having signed Nicolas Pepe for £72 million – and Everton made an improved offer. Pepe is Zaha’s team-mate with the Ivory Coast and was signed by Arsenal after their bid of £40 million for Zaha was flatly rejected.

The problem for Palace is that Zaha remains adamant that he wants to leave and, with the transfer window remaining open for other major European leagues until the beginning of next month, there remains the possibility of other bids being submitted and the player remaining unsettled.

Zaha has made it clear that he is prepared to move abroad and has attracted interest in the past from Germany – Borussia Dortmund made an inquiry – and Italy, where he has been looked at by Napoli.

The issue for Palace is that they cannot now sign a replacement even if a club match their valuation.

Zaha signed a five-year contract at Palace only last August, which made him the highest-earning player in the club’s history, on £130,000 a week, and did not include a release clause.

Since then, Zaha has changed his mind and believes he can only fulfil his career elsewhere.

His argument with Palace will be that he believed he had an agreement the club would sell him this summer if an acceptable offer was made. Palace will counter that they never received such a bid.

Hodgson confirmed that Palace had their work cut out in trying to appease Zaha in the coming weeks.

“He’s staying, absolutely, and we’re pleased about that,” Hodgson said. “It’s well documented that he wanted to leave. It hasn’t worked out for him in that respect, but now I am looking forward to seeing him do this season what he has done for us in the past few seasons.

“His beef is with the chairman and the owners because he wanted to leave and they didn’t receive an acceptable offer, but when you sign long-term contracts then you have to accept this kind of thing and come to terms with that.”

There was disappointment for Everton in failing to sign the central defender that head coach Marco Silva asked for. Talks with Manchester United over Marcos Rojo proved fruitless after only a loan deal was proposed, with Everton having already failed in a similar offer for Chris Smalling.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/08/08/wilfried-zaha-devastated-crystal-palace-stand-firm-against-everton/

Lalasticlala Mynd44

Won't hold my breath on this one

Make them free this guy now aba