Wilfried Zaha has signed a new five-year deal at Crystal Palace after months of speculation surrounding his future over the summer.
The forward, whose performances were a key factor in keeping Palace in the Premier League last season, was linked with moves to the likes of Tottenham, Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund with the Eagles valuing the 25-year-old at £70million.
After staying put at the close of the transfer window on Thursday, Zaha scored in their opening day 2-0 win at Fulham on Saturday.
Of his new deal, Zaha said: “I’m very pleased. Obviously, I just wanted to get it over and done with, so I can just focus on the season. I’m buzzing that we managed to get it sorted.”
Speaking to the club site, chairman Steve Parish added: “Wilfried, the player that we’ve seen all summer, has just done everything properly and right and shown the respect that he’s got for this football club. And he should be applauded for that with all the noise that was going on around him.
“Obviously today we’ve settled everything in terms of his long term future so we are absolutely ecstatic.”
Wilfried Zaha insisted he had remained focused on and committed to Crystal Palace despite the growing doubts that surrounded his future towards the conclusion of the summer transfer window.
The forward again demonstrated not only his importance to his team when scoring their winning goal in Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Fulham but why his manager Roy Hodgson is also desperate to retain him.
He remains in talks with the club about improving the contract that presently commits him to them until 2022, and despite the interest of Premier League rivals and the transfer deadline meaning speculation has since stopped, he said: “It makes no difference to me, because I had my head down anyway.
“All that stuff was not going to affect me or how the team were playing. Whatever happens happens. But I’m all Palace – and you can see on the pitch that all I think about is the team doing well.
“We are still speaking about (a potential new contract), still negotiating, whatever. Just going to see if we can come to an agreement.
“The main thing for me is scoring goals. Everyone talks about ‘no end product, no end product’. Well, tell me now.”
The 25-year-old had been played through on goal by fellow Palace academy graduate Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who once again impressed.
Hodgson selected him to start the Premier League season ahead of the long-serving Joel Ward, and he said of his young full-back’s continued progress: “He’s very receptive to information. He’s very serious about his football. I’ve seen him get better over the last six months.
“How much better he can get, who knows but at the moment we’re more than happy with him because he’s doing everything we need him to do on the field and that’s proven against a team of Fulham’s quality.”
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson had remained hopeful of keeping star man Wilfried Zaha at the club beyond next week’s transfer deadline.
Zaha has been a revelation since returning to Palace in 2015 and has been strongly linked with Chelsea and Tottenham recently having already reportedly rejected an approach from Everton.
The latest reports suggest the Ivory Coast playmaker has his heart set on Chelsea, but Hodgson hasn’t given up hope.
“I spoke to Wilf yesterday and he certainly gave me no indication that he wanted to quit the club,” he said.
“In fact, we were talking about how good the new signings were and how they would help us.
“My hope and plan is that he will stay and I will continue being happy to work with him.”
“The thing with Wilf is very simple: he is very much an integral part of our plans and Crystal Palace Football Club.
“Everyone likes him and admires him. He knows that and he respects the club.”