Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has expressed his delight at the club having tied star man Wilfried Zaha to a new bumper deal.
Earlier this week the Ivory Coast international put pen to paper on a new contract that will tie him to the London club until 2023.
This brought to end a summer fraught with transfer speculation, with many outlets set on claims that Zaha was unhappy at Selhurst Park.
However the 25-year old signed a new deal with his boyhood club, and his manager is delighted he will play a part of Palace’s future going forward.
Talking to the club’s official website, Hodgson had this to say on Zaha’s new long-term commitment:
It’s very good that the player of his ability has committed his long-term future to the club.
We think very highly of him both as a person and a player and he has even a talismanic quality when it comes to being from this part of the world starting his career at Crystal Palace, all of those things need to be factored in.
We are obviously delighted that this is where he wants to be because when you sign a contract of that length and magnitude it means that where you intend to be for the coming years and it gives the chairman and Dougie Freedman a chance to do some very serious planning. Of course he is a player who we want to be doing our planning around.
He is very good. All players have got qualities and there aren’t many who can do every single thing – but he scores top marks in so many aspects an when it comes to dribbling and manipulating the ball and going past opponents I’d put him up there with the very best.
Zaha netted for the Eagles in their opening game of the season against Fulham and Palace supporters will hope he can continue this form against Liverpool on Monday.
