Opinion: 3 reasons why Arsenal shouldn't sign Wilfried Zaha

Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha isn’t just one of the best players in the Premier League outside of the top six, he’s one of the best players in the league, period. And when the Ivory Coast forward stated his intentions to move to a bigger club than Palace this summer – preferably one that could offer him Champions League football – not many eyebrows were raised.

But while Manchester United and Tottenham were both linked with the player, it appears that Arsenal are now his most likely suitors. The Gunners are clearly interested and have reportedly submitted a £40m bid, and Zaha himself seems interested as he grew up as a fan of the club.

But should Zaha really be the player that Arsenal are targeting this season? For as good as he is, the answer is probably a no – and here are 3 reasons why.

#1 Arsenal’s attack is already strong – it’s defenders they need

Arsenal would be better off saving their money to replace defenders like Shkodran Mustafi

Arsenal missed out on the coveted Champions League spots by just one point last season, but in all honesty, they could easily have finished as high as 3rd place in the Premier League table had they not picked up just 4 points from their final 5 matches. And while it’d be easy to argue that adding Wilfried Zaha to their side would’ve allowed them to pick up those much-needed points, that might not actually be the case.

To be quite frank, the issue that Arsenal had last season wasn’t to do with their attack. Unai Emery’s side managed to score 73 goals – 10 more than third-placed Chelsea and 6 more than fourth-placed Tottenham – and they were also able to call upon the services of two of 2018/19’s top 10 goalscorers; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who jointly won the Golden Boot with 22 goals, and French hitman Alexandre Lacazette, who chipped in with 13.

The area in which Arsenal struggled, on the other hand, was clearly in their defence. The Gunners leaked 51 goals – more than double the amount that Manchester City and Liverpool conceded and more than 4 of the teams that actually finished below them. And in their late-season losses to Crystal Palace, Leicester and Wolves, it was horrendous individual defensive errors from the likes of Shkodran Mustafi that cost them the points.

Sure, Rob Holding – who should return from injury early in 2019/20 – should help to shore up their back-line, but he’s just one player. So why would Arsenal spend the majority – if not all – of their transfer kitty on another attacker like Zaha? Surely it makes far more sense for Emery to splash the cash on at least a couple of defenders, and trust the attackers he’s already got.

#2 Signing him may harm the development of Reiss Nelson

The Gunners might already have a player with the potential to be as good as Zaha in Reiss Nelson

While a player as talented as Wilfried Zaha would undoubtedly help any side – including Arsenal – it may be the case that the Gunners already have a player with the potential to be just as good as Zaha on their books already in the form of England U21 international Reiss Nelson. Nelson spent 2018/19 on loan at Bundesliga side Hoffenheim, but he’s already made his intentions to break into the Arsenal first team for 2019/20 known.

Obviously, Zaha is more of a proven commodity than Nelson at this stage in his career, but when Arsenal have such a bright young talent already on their books, would it really be worth splashing a massive amount of cash on Zaha, who would likely keep him away from first-team opportunities? Sure, you could perhaps argue that Arsenal could play both – with Nelson on the right and Zaha on the left – but with Emery choosing to switch formations so often judging by last season, the likelihood is that they could be competing for the same spot.

With that in mind, it’s interesting to compare the two; obviously, Zaha played far more minutes last season, ending with 3040 minutes compared to Nelson’s 628, but Nelson managed an excellent 7 goals compared to Zaha’s 10. And while Zaha bagged 5 assists to Nelson’s 0, the England youngster created more chances per 90 minutes – 2.3 to 1.6. Nelson’s dribbling success rate per game was also slightly higher, at 48.5% compared to Zaha’s 45.4%.

None of this proves that Nelson is a superior player to Zaha, of course; Zaha is far more proven at the Premier League level. But what it does suggest is that Nelson probably deserves a chance in the Arsenal first team and if he does reach his potential, the need for Zaha would largely be negated.

Add in the fact that Arsenal also have the capable Alex Iwobi who plays in a similar role – and incidentally, had a dribbling success rate higher than both Nelson or Zaha (54.1%) – and you’ve got to question whether they truly need the Crystal Palace man.

#3 To sign Zaha would cost a lot of money – and may cost Arsenal Aubameyang

Selling Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to finance a move for Zaha would make no sense

It’s been suggested that due to their failure to qualify for next season’s Champions League, Arsenal’s transfer budget this summer is likely to be anywhere between £40m and £50m – a very low figure when you consider that Manchester United just paid £50m for Crystal Palace’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka. With that in mind it’s no wonder that Palace turned down Arsenal’s £40m bid for Zaha, and if the rumors of Palace potentially demanding double that amount – if not more – for their talisman, then how will Arsenal finance such a deal?

One way that has been suggested is for Arsenal to cash in on their own prize asset, striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gabon hitman cost the Gunners around £56m when they signed him from Borussia Dortmund in January 2018, but despite the big price tag he’s been well worth the money thus far, as he scored 10 goals in just 13 Premier League games in his debut season before hitting 22 in 36 matches to win the Golden Boot last season.

It has been suggested that Arsenal might be open to selling him if they recieve a bumper bid for the Gabonese star.

To sell him now, though, would be downright baffling. Sure, he’s 30 years old, but that doesn’t mean he’s past his prime, and 22 Premier League goals last season would seem to prove that. He’s still got his incredible pace and finishing ability, and to sell him to finance a move for Zaha wouldn’t make sense.

Arsenal could simply turn to Alexandre Lacazette as their main striker and use Zaha to partner him, but that still wouldn’t make up for the loss of Aubameyang’s goals; in fact, Zaha and Lacazette scored 23 goals between them last season across 59 appearances, just 1 more than Aubameyang delivered by himself.

In conclusion, then, it’s hard to really justify selling Aubameyang to bring in Zaha. So rather than chase such an expensive attacking signing, surely Unai Emery would be better off sticking with the attackers that he’s already got – and using the tight budget he does have to strengthen his side’s back-line.