Former Tottenham scout backs the club to return for player they failed to sign in 2017

Former Tottenham scout, David Webb, who discovered Wilfried Zaha when he was 13, has backed the North Londoners to make a move to sign the Crystal Palace star this summer.

Zaha has arguably been one of the best players in the league, outside the so-called ‘Big 6’ for a fair number of seasons now.

It always appeared to be only a matter of time before he got another opportunity at a big club following his ill-fated spell at Manchester United in his younger years.

Tottenham reportedly tried to sign the winger in 2017 but saw their bid turned down by Crystal Palace (The Athletic).

The 27-year-old was also linked with a move to Arsenal last summer (Guardian) but once again ended up staying put at Selhurst Park.

Webb, who was part of Spurs’ recruitment team in 2017 when they went after Zaha, admitted that Tottenham did not stand a realistic chance of landing the Palace star back then.

He told The National: “It was unrealistic, more of a token bid, I think it was £12-15m and might have got a second bid up to £18m but Palace didn’t even entertain it.

“[Mauricio] Pochettino loves him as a player but Palace were asking for £70-80m which was never going to happen from Tottenham’s perspective.”

Webb claimed that this summer would be the ideal time for Palace to cash in on Zaha and insisted that Spurs and Everton would be interested in signing him.

He added: “I think this would be the best time for him to go. He has been a fantastic servant to Palace and has been their talisman but if he wants to have a chance to play European football, or challenge for some sort of trophy, potentially he will need to move now.

“Tottenham and Everton would be the two in England. He could add to Tottenham. Wilf can play as one of the wide players as he does at Palace or out of position as a No 9.

“They could use that as an alternative attacking threat because certainly, they missed that when Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son were out. Everton definitely need to strengthen in those areas.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I can see how some people are suggesting that Zaha to Spurs could be a good bet this summer. The winger has three years to run on his contract with Palace and they will likely cash-in on him this summer since his value could thus drop considerably in a year. Going by the number of wide players we have been linked with, it does appear that Jose Mourinho wants to add another winger to the squad in order to be able to compete in four competitions. However, I cannot see us moving for Zaha unless he is available for less than £35m.

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