GUNNERS WANT ZAHA
Palace star is lined up to replace Sanchez
ARSENAL have earmarked Wilfried Zaha as the man to replace Alexis Sanchez.
The Crystal Palace attacker is wanted by boss Arsene Wenger when Chilean ace Sanchez eventually joins Manchester City. Sanchez scored twice for the Gunners when they beat Zaha’s Palace 3-2 on Thursday. Some team-mates failed to celebrate with him after his first strike. And Arsenal legend Thierry Henry claimed on Sky that the long, drawn-out departure of Sanchez had caused divisions in the camp.
Palace boss Roy Hodgson revealed earlier this month he could not guarantee Ivory Coast international Zaha, 25, would still be at the club after next month’s transfer window. Chelsea,
Tottenham and City are admirers of the attacker, who had an ill-fated spell at Manchester United after a £10m move in 2013.
Hodgson said if the player continues his fine form ‘‘the club will be faced with a situation where someone wants to put a lot of money on the table to prise him away”.
City looked set to sign Sanchez for £60m on the last day of the transfer window, but it fell through when Arsenal failed in a last-ditch attempt to land Thomas Lemar for £92m from Monaco.
They could go in for him again in next month’s transfer window, but know they can land him for free next summer.
Sanchez has made it clear he only wants to go to the Etihad, scuppering a potential move to Paris St-Germain.
Wenger favoured such a solution as it would not mean losing another star to City, following the previous departures of Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasir, Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna.
He was also keen to try and arrange a swap deal involving German attacker Julian Draxler, but Sanchez remains determined to go to City.
Wenger is also pushing ahead with plans to sign a centre-back next month.
His favoured £30m target is Chelsea’s Brazil star David Luiz, but the Frenchman is also considering Jonny Evans of West Brom and James Tarkowski of Burnley.
It is also understood German playmaker Mesut Ozil is becoming increasingly keen on staying at Arsenal, despite strong interest from Manchester United and Barcelona.
Ozil wants a £300,000-aweek deal to stay, with his contract also up at the end of this season, but a compromise could now be reached. WENGER has told centre-back Krystian Bielik he will be loaned out to play his way into Arsenal’s first-team plans.
The Poland Under-21 star was loaned to Birmingham last season but could join a League One club next month to give him more game time.