Aston Villa must stop £60m situation amid links to Galatasaray ace Wilfried Zaha
Aston Villa must get on top of their wage bill situation after being linked with a move to sign Galatasaray forward Wilfried Zaha, according to Ty Bracey.
talkSPORT journalist Alex Crook told GiveMeSport on 1 February that it was mentioned to him that the Ivory Coast international was on Villa’s radar in the January transfer window, but that a move would be “expensive” to complete with the Turkish club.
He added that a deal for the 31-year-old winger, who is on a reported £153,000-a-week in Istanbul [Daily Mail], could be one to keep an eye on in the summer if Unai Emery’s side qualify for the Champions League this season.
Although Bracey believes Zaha could be a good singing for the Villans, he questioned whether his salary would be too high after revealing that the club’s wage bill has gone up by £60million over the past year.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Bracey said: “I think we could sign him, but the wages will be a bit high.
“Something we really need to nip in the bud is the wages after it’s gone up by £60million this year, which is a substantial amount.
“I saw that player wages covers 70 per cent of Villa’s revenue, which doesn’t leave us a lot to play with.
“I think he would be one of those who would want more than £100,000-a-week.
“But there’s still a player in there and he’s definitely capable of playing in the Premier League.
“Whether we would be willing to match those wage requests, I don’t know.”
Could Aston Villa sign Wilfried Zaha?
It feels unlikely that Villa would be looking to sign Zaha in the summer even though he has shown previously that he can be a quality operator in the Premier League with Crystal Palace.
The winger has been in decent form since joining Galatasaray, having scored 10 goals and laid on five assists in 35 matches this season.
But as Bracey points out, his salary could be a bit too much for the Villans as they will probably be looking to get on top of their wage bill this summer.
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