It is a well-known fact that Barcelona are struggling to comply with the Financial Fair Play rules of La Liga since the COVID pandemic seriously damaged the economic stature of the club, bringing forth some lurking problems that the predominant income of the club was able to mask previously but not anymore.
Since then, the Catalan club is working continuously to reduce expenditures and maximize revenues in order to recover financially to the level they have been before. Such attempts require massive sacrifices sometimes as it was with the sale of the minority stakes of Barça Studios and future TV rights, and it also limits the club’s freedom on the transfer market.
Thus, when looking to reinforce the squad, Barcelona are forced to pay special attention to players that will become free agents in the summer, with their contract running out with their current clubs. Accordingly, the Catalan club has several names on their agenda to strengthen the squad with for the next campaign.
One of these players who have been recently linked with a possible move to Blaugranes is Wilfried Zaha, Crystal Palace’s Ivorian winger. Given the inconsistent form of Barça’s wingers and the lack of quality depth in that section, the availability of Zaha came in handy for the Catalans, but it seems that they now have to face tough competition for his signing.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Chelsea have joined the race for the 30-year-old winger despite making huge investments in the transfer market since Todd Boehly’s takeover. Moreover, Mauricio Pochettino, who is likely to be the next manager to occupy the Blues’ bench, likes the Ivorian a lot and would like to have him in his squad.
In addition to the interest from Barcelona and Chelsea, the same report suggests that Zaha has offers from AC Milan, Internazionale, Napoli, and Olympique de Marseille on the table, while teams from Saudi Arabia are also tempting him with lucrative offers.
His current club, Crystal Palace would like to keep the player and is offering him a contract with a weekly £200,000 salary, trying to persuade their star to stay at Selhurst Park by making him the highest-paid player in the history of the club. However, the player doesn’t seem to sign a renewal and is looking for a new challenge.
