Roy Hodgson has said Crystal Palace would be “very foolish” to relax and think no one will bid for Wilfried Zaha this summer due to clubs’ finances being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The outbreak of coronavirus has hit clubs all across Europe, with some being forced to furlough staff and make players take pay cuts.
As a result, it is expected that spending will decrease during the upcoming summer transfer window and instead clubs will seek to complete loan or swap deals.
Plenty of sides showed an interest in Zaha last summer, but his price tag of £80million meant he stayed at Selhurst Park.
And when asked if the pandemic hitting clubs’ finances meant Palace did not have to worry about any bids coming in for Zaha this summer, Hodgson replied: “It’s a good question.
“It’s an unknown isn’t it, how much money is going to be floating around in the next window.
“I think we’d be very foolish to relax and start thinking there will be no bids for Wilf Zaha, no big-money interest in him, because he’s such a good player.
“He has the ability to play at any level, anywhere in the world, so who knows? If we find it easy to keep him because there aren’t big bids coming in, that would be fine.
“But I certainly wouldn’t count on that because if I was at another club I’d be looking to sign players of his quality.”
More recently it has been Palace defender Mamadou Sakho (below), and not Zaha, who has been linked with a move this summer.
In particular French side Lyon have been credited with an interest in the centre-back, but Hodgson has said no talks have taken place.
“As far as I know, our club hasn’t had any contact with Lyon at all,” said Hodgson.
“So I don’t quite understand where that is coming from and until such time as the president of Lyon contacts Steve Parish or Doug Freedman, if he wants to go in that route and start discussing the possibilities and options of Mamadou Sakho joining Lyon, as far as I am concerned it doesn’t exist.
“This is just talk in the newspaper and who knows where that comes from because we have had no concrete dealings with Lyon at all.”
