Is Wilfried Zaha really worth £15 million? (Video)

 

The young attacker is set to leave this window, but can he justify his hefty price tag?

I would normally begin a piece like this explaining which clubs the player has been linked with, but in Wilfried Zaha’s case we don’t have the time as the list includes Man U, Chelsea, and Arsenal. A window or two ago, Liverpool were in the hunt, then Spurs emerged and dropped away, Chelsea have been quite but always a presence – this leaves United and Arsenal to fight it out. 

Or not, as Zaha’s twitter may suggest: “Looks like I’m on my way to the top of the premier league” (now deleted), however one factoid that has been seemingly set in concrete is the price of this sought after transfer – £15 million. But is that too much for the young Palace player? 

Before I continue, I would like to point out that we’re talking about these prices within football here, in real life these sums of money are ridiculous.

First off, what does Zaha have to offer? Well he’s a modern attacker who comes in from wide and scores goals, he relies on his sprint, ball control, balance, and flair. Take a look:

 

 

So now we know what he’s got let’s look at how he stacks up to the cost; what could £15million buy a club?

More like him in dribbling and less like him in goalscoring is Tottenham’s Moussa Dembele who was sold by Fulham for £15m. He was already a proven product unlike Zaha, but not a player one would call world-class.

Dembele isn’t quite the same player as Zaha though, so how about Mesut Ozil? The German playmaker was relatively unknown to Europe until he blew everyone away at the World Cup in South Africa, after which he was sought after and eventually went to Madrid for 15 million euros – less than Zaha’s alleged fee – and Ozil is now considered one of the world’s best attacking midfielders.

How about a player further forward, and one that has come to England? £15-12 million was the price paid by Southampton for Uruguayan attacking mid Gaston Ramirez. He too was unproven in the Premier League, and although a bit older, still hadn’t reached his potential. Although he isn’t stunning us currently, he seems to be a Prem-quality player and is heading towards justifying his price tag. 15 million euros was also recently paid for Alexander Pato – a player in a similar place in his career to Ramirez.

Two differences between Zaha and Ramirez (and Pato) though are; Zaha is English which adds to price (as Liverpool will testify), and he is moving to a title winning team, not one in a relegation battle – the stakes are a lot, lot higher.

As you know, £12 million was recently paid by a big club for a young English attacker – Daniel Sturridge to Liverpool, and although less of a gamble, the former Chelsea man has yet to fully prove than he has what it takes to make it big time but he has still proven more than Zaha and is costing less – so where is the price coming from?

It’s coming from two factors that recently crippled Liverpool themselves: an English nationality, and a young age. With a limit on foreign players looming, and a player’s potential being financially unquantifiable, these two factors combine to drive prices sky high in the Premiership.

So why would Man United splash £15 million on Zaha? Probably because Ferguson sees the same spark he once saw in a €15 million acquisition – Cristiano Ronaldo.

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