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Despite His Poor Stats, Why This 24-year Old Is A Gamble Worth Taking For Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur’s season has been below par so far with their title challenge all but over, with Chelsea 8 points clear at the top and Spurs 10 points behind at 3rd place. However, they still have a chance to win silverware this season, with the Europa League presenting them a realistic opportunity for success.

Their summer signings haven’t performed as expected with only Victor Wanyama justifying his price tag. Vincent Janssen, who moved to White Hart Lane in the summer, has been miserable all season and is yet to score an open play goal for the club.

Moussa Sissoko has been worse than Janssen and he hasn’t made any impact that was expected of him. Pochettino is running out of ideas and the solution may be available in the transfer market, with the club still ready to spend for their manager. Spurs have spent a significant amount on transfers and their transfer policy has been flawed. Many of their signings have not been successful and a lot of money has been wasted. It is high time they started spending wisely and they have been linked with plenty of wingers off late. The names of Riyad Mahrez, Anthony Martial and Wilfried Zaha have come up and Tottenham will have to flex their financial muscles to sign big names.

Tottenham have always been a selling club in the past and things are changing now, with Tottenham building steadily. Wilfried Zaha has been linked with Tottenham for a while now and we may wonder why he’s been linked with Spurs over and over again. We analyse if Zaha would be a gamble worth taking or not.

Wilfried Zaha was highly-rated in his early days. He is still only 24, but the progress he has made so far is nowhere near the growth that was expected of him when he made his Crystal Palace debut.

Zaha is a product of the Crystal Palace youth academy and he joined them aged 12. He made his debut in 2009/10 season when he came on as a substitute for the final 10 minutes of the game. Zaha made a total of 44 appearances next season and registered a goal and 2 assists. He made a total of 143 appearances for the club by the end of 2012/13 season and ended up with 18 goals overall. Manchester United came calling for the talented young winger and it looked like Zaha was all set for greatness, but instead, his career took a huge blow as he only made 4 appearances for Manchester United after two seasons at the club. He also moved to Cardiff City on loan for a part of 2013/14 season and was sold at the end of 2014/15 season, back to his old club Crystal Palace.

It was a disaster spell for Zaha and he was totally out of confidence. Crystal Palace have kept hold of the winger ever since and he’s made 102 appearances for the Eagles and has scored 13 goals in all competitions.

Zaha is now reportedly being chased by Tottenham and it might be the right time for him to try his luck at a big club again.
Spurs are desperately looking to bolster their attack and if they can manage to get Zaha on the cheap, it might be a great signing. With Sissoko being a complete failure, Tottenham surely need to dip into the transfer market to bolster their squad and Zaha looks like a feasible option given his age, price and also his playing style.

He is a typical winger who likes to dribble and is so good at it. He can play on both flanks and hence will be a good option to have. He is quick and he likes to link up with his teammates and can also cross with ease. However, work needs to be done on his passing ability and ball retention.

He loses the ball often and he has a passing accuracy of 80% this season and it is a subject to debate. The young winger’s general style of play suits Tottenham and Pochettino being the manager that he is would do a commendable job in moulding Zaha into the player that he is supposed to be.

Zaha probably lacks confidence and maybe, that is all he needs to turn himself into a beast. The Tottenham squad is sure to provide Wilfried some experience and the manager is known to back youngsters up and rotate the squad well. So it is safe to say that he will not be left in the dry and will eventually get his chances at the club if at all he makes a move to White Hart Lane.