London Football News

Zaha insists he is committed to Palace

© Mark Kerton/PA Wire

Wilfried Zaha has insisted he always remained committed to Crystal Palace despite speculation over his future.

The forward was linked with Tottenham and Chelsea during the recent transfer window.

He again demonstrated not only his importance to his team when scoring their winning goal in Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Fulham but why his manager Roy Hodgson is also desperate to retain him.

He remains in talks with the club about improving the contract that presently commits him to them until 2022, and despite the interest of Premier League rivals and the transfer deadline meaning speculation has since stopped, he said: “It makes no difference to me, because I had my head down anyway.

“All that stuff was not going to affect me or how the team were playing. Whatever happens happens. But I’m all Palace – and you can see on the pitch that all I think about is the team doing well.

“We are still speaking about (a potential new contract), still negotiating, whatever. Just going to see if we can come to an agreement.

“The main thing for me is scoring goals. Everyone talks about ‘no end product, no end product’. Well, tell me now.”

The 25-year-old had been played through on goal by fellow Palace academy graduate Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who once again impressed.

Hodgson selected him to start the Premier League season ahead of the long-serving Joel Ward, and he said of his young full-back’s continued progress: “He’s very receptive to information. He’s very serious about his football. I’ve seen him get better over the last six months.

“How much better he can get, who knows but at the moment we’re more than happy with him because he’s doing everything we need him to do on the field and that’s proven against a team of Fulham’s quality.”




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