Wilfried Zaha is keen on joining Arsenal (Picture: Getty)

Crystal Palace will refuse to grant Wilfried Zaha his wish of joining Arsenal due to fears that his departure could put a potential takeover at the club in jeopardy.

The Ivory Coast international has pleaded with the Eagles to let him join the Gunners, who are exploring ways of boosting their budget to sign the £80m-rated forward.

Palace are sympathetic to Zaha’s wishes but they are under no financial pressure to sell and have just made £50m profit from Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s move to Manchester United.

Palace chairman Steve Parish is searching for new investors at Selhurst Park to buy-out wantaway sharehodlers Josh Harris and David Blitzer.


Zaha is valued at around £80m (Picture: Getty)

It’s likely to cost around £200m to invest, while any investors must be willing to take on the planned expansion of Selhurst Park.



Such an investment would be dependent upon staying in the Premier League and losing Zaha would be catastrophic to the club’s hopes of remaining in the top flight.

On top of their desire to keep Zaha is the fact that Manchester United retain a 25% sell-on clause in the forward’s contract, meaning any fee will be heavily reduced.

Zaha made his intentions clear at the end of last season and expressed a desire to play in the Champions League.

Arsenal, of course, cannot offer that this season but Zaha is a boyhood fan of the club and wants to remain in London.

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