Crystal Palace: £36m Selhurst Park star 'could play for top club'

Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha is good enough to play “anywhere” in the frontline and at a top club, believes former Premier League midfielder Carlton Palmer.

The £36m-rated 29-year-old has spent most of his career on the flanks, but manager Patrick Vieira recently suggested that he could convert him into a striker.

A few times this season, Vieira has used Zaha up front, and the Frenchman told Palace’s official club website last month that it could be a tactic he employs going forward.

“I have to convince him and that will take time, but that is a position that I believe he can play,” Vieira said. “He’s really strong at holding the ball, he is capable of linking the game and he can drop in the midfield.

“I believe this is a position that he can excel in for us. We’ve had a couple of conversations about that. He doesn’t say no, but it takes him time to buy into it.”

This is not the first time Zaha has played as a No.9, with former manager Roy Hodgson having used him there in the past, so it is certainly not a position that is foreign to him.

Erling Haaland to Man City: DONE DEAL! Hear more on The Football Terrace…

Palmer thinks Zaha is more than capable of fulfilling the centre-forward role for Palace, hailing the Ivorian’s ability.

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, the ex-Leeds United and Southampton star said: “He can play anywhere along the top, whether it’s wide, as a striker or anywhere. He’s got undoubted ability and, for me, I don’t understand why he’s not playing at one of the top football clubs. I really don’t with the ability he’s got.”

Zaha is a goal threat, so you can see why Vieira can envision the former Manchester United man, who has scored 14 times this season, being a success in that No.9 role.

However, given