Palace slap £20m price tag on Arsenal target Zaha

Crystal Palace have slapped a £20 million price tag on starlet Wilfried Zaha who received a shock call-up for England's friendly against Sweden on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old's meteoric rise has attracted the attention of Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho, according to the Daily Mirror (https://bit.ly/Xz9Au3).

Former Chelsea manager Mourinho has sent scouts to check on the Crystal Palace forward this season.

Zaha has also been courted by Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Chelsea after developing into one of the country’s best young talents.

Arsenal will bid for Zaha in the transfer window but their opening bid of £7m is way short of ­Palace’s evaluation.

England boss Roy Hodgson moved quickly to make sure that Zaha commits himself to England after former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba tried to persuade him to play for Ivory Coast, where he was born.

Palace are determined to keep their star by scaring off clubs planning to bid in January.

The Championship side's co-owner Stephen Browett says it would be madness for Palace to scupper their promotion bid by allowing him to leave in the New Year transfer window.

“We absolutely do not want to sell Wilfried in January,” said Browett, who owns the club with fellow consortium members Steve Parish, Martin Long and Jeremy Hosking.

“If you finish last in the Premier League you get £60m in prize money - and with parachute payments over four years you are guaranteed £100m.

“It is such a massive amount that selling your best player when you have a good chance of promotion makes no sense at all.

“The figure of £20m has been talked about and that lets interested clubs know we are serious. But he is not for sale.”