Why Chelsea must land Wilfried Zaha at any cost
Chelsea have been linked to an array of wingers and forwards since the start of the transfer window. Departures, unsettled players, and an urgent need of consistency in front of goal has created a wave of speculation.
They were in the market for Crystal Palace’s talisman Wilfried Zaha, whose contract expires at the end of this season, in 2023.
The Ivory Coast international remains unsettled with about two weeks to go before his 30th birthday, and a last chance to play in the pinnacle of European club football – the Champions League.
As such, the Blues would look to snap him up next summer, or if he’s available in January. That, obviously, depends on where Crystal Palace are in the Premier League table.
Chelsea have tried and tested multiple formulae to start firing consistently and become a fearsome attacking unit. Change in systems, repeated changes in personnel, the blockbuster signing of Romelu Lukaku, and whatnot.
For how distant this task seems, they might have a player to rely on from the south of London in Zaha.
Explosive nature of play
Zaha is the total package.
There’s nothing he cannot do on the pitch. He scores all kinds of goals, creates all sorts of chances for his team and has the eye-of-the-needle pass in his arsenal as well.
Barring Christian Pulisic, perhaps, no Chelsea winger is known to take players on. The USMNT international has had his share of scrutiny thus far, while Callum Hudson-Odoi’s Chelsea career is yet to fully take off.
Zaha is simply built differently. He can fend challenges off at will and stay on his feet despite the most impetuous of fouls coming his way.
He thrives in one-versus-one situations, loves chopping the ball from one foot to another, doing multiple crossovers or just dropping his shoulders and shifting gears. Under Graham Potter’s ideologies, being a wide player like Zaha is a boon.
Not only can he stretch the opposing defence, but also create ample space for the likes of Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount and Kai Havertz to enjoy that one extra second to lift their heads up and make decisions.
Only Eberechi Eze (nine) has created more chances for the Eagles this season than Zaha (eight). Zaha brings everything to the table which the Chelsea attack lacks at present.
Goalscoring rise
The forward will only get better if he mans positions further up the field. He’ll get to do exactly that at Chelsea, simply because they keep the ball that much, with the two wide attacking players swarming across the final third.
He has more shots, shots on target and shots inside the box than any of his teammates. Zaha knows where the goal is, having already netted five and averaging an impressive 2.7 shots per game on average in the PL this term.
Of the eight full seasons at Selhurst Park in the top flight, Zaha has reached double figures for the season on three occasions. Unsurprisingly, all of them have been in the last four years.
A key component, alongside the screamers and weak foot goals in his long list of spectacular goals scored, is the composure that appears to keep getting better.
Tenacity and injury record
Excluding the thigh strain that confined him to the sidelines for about four weeks last season, Zaha hasn’t suffered from any injury concerns since 2017.
Even at 29, he looks as sharp and fresh as anyone else on the pitch. A key part of Patrick Vieira’s defensive structure, Zaha is one to sprint up and down the pitch with breath-taking intensity.
He wins a lot of fouls, and is often exasperated at every one of them. He’s always trying to find ways on the pitch, be it from dropping deep in midfield, hugging the touchline, or making disguised runs into the box. What these traits underline is his knack to keep going, pressing for the game-changing moment.
That’s something quite a few Chelsea attackers have come under scrutiny for, a drop in intensity, especially when they take a slender, dangerous 1-0 lead.
Zaha isn’t a name for world football’s hall of fame, nor is he a young forward stealing the back pages of European tabloids. But he could write his own folktale for Chelsea.
-Akarshak Roy
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Jon Candy. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.