Crystal Palace have “no interest” in selling star duo Wilfried Zaha and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, manager Roy Hodgson has said, but the former England boss also admitted that every player has their price as the Eagles begin to look towards a sixth consecutive season in the Premier League.
The Eagles virtually secured survival after a 2-0 win over Huddersfield on Saturday, further extending the club’s longest-ever run in the top flight and shifting the focus to how the team might look next season. Zaha, the electric forward who has become Palace’s talisman, has been linked with a move away from Selhurst Park in consecutive summer windows and is known to harbour a desire to play Champions League football. Borussia Dortmund are reportedly considering the winger as a replacement for Jadon Sancho should Manchester United make good on their interest in the England teenager. Yet it is Wan-Bissaka, 21, who is now attracting the strongest interest from the Premier League’s elite, with Manchester City and Manchester United both monitoring his progress.
“The good thing for me is one has a five-year contract (Zaha) and one has a four-year contract (Wan-Bissaka),” said Hodgson, when asked about the players. The club is certainly in no way advertising them or promoting them as saleable objects. We would be more than happy to keep them. But we just have to remain realistic and see what happens. If offers come in they will obviously be assessed, like everything else. As I heard Manuel Pellegrini quite rightly say the other day (when discussing Declan Rice’s future]: every footballer player does have a price.” That price is likely to be significant. Zaha was valued at north of £60m by the club when Tottenham and Chelsea were considering moves recently and his contract situation allied with continued inflation in the transfer market hand Palace plenty of leverage. “The fact they have long contracts; that doesn’t mean to say their feet are nailed down,” Hodgson added. “But we have no interest in selling either player. Our aim, our intention, our hope is that we will start next season with both of those in our team. And if not, we will have to hope that the offers for them are sufficiently good that the club feels they will be worth taking.”
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