Michael Ball says Everton were right to walk away from Wilfried Zaha

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Former Everton defender Michael Ball reckons his old club were right to walk away from Wilfried Zaha at the eleventh hour.

The Toffees pursued the Crystal Palace star heavily towards the end of the summer transfer window, and made a final offer of £70 million plus James McCarthy and Cenk Tosun for the 26-year-old (Sky Sports).

The Eagles rejected the offer, despite the player apparently handing in a transfer request, and Everton then sealed a last-gasp deal for Alex Iwobi instead.

Everton’s end to the window has not satisfied all corners of the fanbase, but Ball believes Everton were right to stop pursuing Zaha when they did.

Writing in his Liverpool Echo column, he said: “What I was happy about, when no deal was struck, was that Everton refused to kill themselves by going over and above their valuation of the player.

“Zaha is an exceptional talent and in hindsight you have to think we could’ve snapped him up in the summer of 2016, for a few million more, instead of Yannick Bolasie.

“His signing this summer would’ve been nice to see but what was more heartening to witness was the club looking after themselves and refusing to break the bank for one player.”

TBR’s view

As good a player as Zaha is, £100 million would have been a ridiculous outlay.

Everton made a brilliant offer for the player but Palace chose to reject.

Ball is right – it was good of the club to walk away after that offer as it sends out a message to other club’s that they will not be fleeced.