54 years Paul Merson wrote in the Daily Star: “Arsenal should go back in for Wilfried Zaha and try to sign him from Crystal Palace this summer. They wanted him before and missed out. But Zaha wanted to join them and he won’t stay at Palace forever. I think he would have made a difference to Arsenal. He’s better than Nicolas Pepe. He draws players towards him and makes things happen.
“It’s a good time to buy him. You’d get him a bit cheaper and he’s a better player now than he was when they tried before. I think Pepe goes this summer if they can find a buyer, and sooner or later they will try Gabriel Martinelli up front.
“So I definitely think there is room for another winger like Zaha in the team, and I think he’d get lots of minutes.”
Merson reckons Zaha, who will be 30 in November, has plenty left in the tank and is actually a better player now than he was when Arsenal first went for him.
He wrote: “I think Zaha makes much better decisions these days. He commits players. And the way Arsenal play, he would free up space for others. He would find it easier at Arsenal than he does at Palace because there teams double up on him all the time because he’s the danger man.”
