Hodgson opens up on Liverpool’s Wilfried Zaha links

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Suggestions Liverpool could sign Wilfried Zaha emerged over the past few days, when Crystal Palace’s former manager Frank De Boer spoke about the Ivorian in glowing terms and said he had the ability to thrive under Jurgen Klopp.

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“Liverpool would be a great club for him but I’m going to see what he does in the future, I’m very interested in him because I think he has a great potential,” the Dutchman told FourFourTwo.

“He can play for a much bigger club than Crystal Palace, that’s for sure, I’m 100 per cent convinced.”

But his current manager Roy Hodgson isn’t worried – claiming that rumours are always rife when an attacker is doing so well.

“That doesn’t bother me at all,” he said, when asked by Sky Sports how he felt about Liverpool’s potential interest in Zaha. “It would surprise me if anybody was asked about Wilf Zaha if they don’t say about him what I would say about him; I think he’s an excellent player.

“What he’s done for Crystal Palace during my short time has been nothing but exceptional and I also know that he did an awful lot in the years before I came to the club so it would surprise me enormously if people did not say Wilf Zaha is a player with a very bright future who can go far.”

Zaha’s been easily Palace’s best player this season and arguably the most impressive performer outside of the top six.

But due to the Premier League premium and the fact there’s years to run on his contract, no club would be able to get him cheap.

At Liverpool, he’d effectively be a ‘first sub’, or a rotation option rather than an immediate key player, because we have Sadio Mane and Mo Salah in the wide areas.

There’s very little to back the African pair up; so an addition like Zaha would be fantastic to bolster our squad, but we have doubts Jurgen Klopp will choose to spend so lavishly in a position where he already has elite talent.

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