Former Crystal Palace boss Ian Holloway has admitted that his ex-player Wilfried Zaha would be a great signing for Chelsea after the club was linked with a transfer for the former Manchester United winger in the January transfer window.
The Stamford Bridge outfit had been keeping tabs on the forward even after FIFA slapped them with a two-window transfer ban due to rules breaches regarding the signing of young players.
However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced that punishment and so manager Frank Lampard can sign players for the first time as Chelsea manager in January.
Holloway feels an agreement there would make a lot of sense for a 27-year-old winger who has rebuilt his reputation after previously struggling to make his mark at Manchester United.
“I think he would be fantastic over there [at Chelsea ],” Holloway told talkSPORT.
“I don’t want Palace to lose him, but in reality, he is going to have to go.
“I would love to see him in that sort of team.”
Holloway insisted his view isn’t about riling the Palace faithful, but simply an assessment of Zaha himself – who is one of his favorite players.
“I don’t want to upset them [Palace fans], but I am only looking and I think he is improving all the time. I see that end product from him, and I just love him.
“He is one of my favorite players ever because I’ve never seen anyone do what he can do.”
Arsenal was quoted between £70m-100m for Zaha last summer, so Chelsea will likely have to fork as much as £80m for the tricky winger.
