Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend has admitted that Wilfried Zaha will probably secure a big-money move away from the club in the future.
With Tottenham reportedly interested in securing the Ivorian's services, Townsend has conceded that while Palace are doing their best to keep hold of Zaha, he would understand if the 27-year-old made the next step in his career.
Arsenal and Everton came in for the winger last summer, but Zaha was told he would remain at Selhurst Park unless Palace's £80m valuation was met.
When you get the job done ✅ pic.twitter.com/vcnKtabtOw
— Wilfried Zaha (@wilfriedzaha) February 22, 2020
In any case, Zaha has continued to demonstrate his professional nature, and has proved he remains an invaluable member of Palace's squad.
Having stayed put during January, this summer might spell the end of Zaha's Palace career, and Townsend accepts that his teammate's future may well lie elsewhere.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Townsend said: "For myself, eventually he'll get his big move and nobody at Palace will begrudge him that big move because he deserves it.
"But hopefully we've got his talent for longer than this season. He loves Palace, he is a Palace boy and has been at the club for so many years and made 350 appearances.
"Once the window had closed, he thought 'right my focus is on Palace and I want to do as well as I can for Palace'. That's the person that he is."
However, despite Zaha's continued importance to the Eagles, he has registered just three goals and three assists in his 27 league appearances this season. Such attacking returns demonstrate his relative lack of productivity in the final third, and it remains to be seen whether interested parties will stump up the £80m he has been valued at come the summer.
Looking ahead, Palace face bitter rivals Brighton in the Premier League this weekend, and could make it two wins on the bounce following their 1-0 victory over Newcastle last time out.
Source : 90min