Steve Parish admits Wilfried Zaha deserves to play for a “top club” and says Crystal Palace will let him leave if they receive a suitable offer.
Arsenal and Everton were both interested in signing Zaha during the summer and he handed in a transfer request before the deadline in a bid to force through a move.
However, despite Everton offering £70m plus James McCarthy and Cenk Tosun, Palace opted not to sell.
Zaha has made no secret of his desire to play in the Champions League and Parish admits he is curious to see what the Ivory Coast international could do at that level.
“I’m sure it has a happy ending for everybody,” Parish told the Daily Mail. “That’s what I want to generate and I’m sure we’ll make that happen.
“We have all been young, but the situation was not right for anybody this summer. You think at the time it is, but I would not put a cap on this kid’s talent.”
“I have watched him every week for 10 years, he scored the first goal in the first game after we bought the club when he was 16. So there is even a bit of me that wants to see what he can do at a top club, and I certainly would not want to be the person who stopped that.
“I feel he deserves to get there, I hope it happens and sometimes it mystifies me he’s not up there already. I don’t know what he’s got to do – run the length of the pitch and beat four players? If people stood in my shoes having to replace him, trying to find someone in world football to do what he does, they would know.
“We are lucky to have him. But if that top club comes along and the money is right, he is an extraordinary talent and it is going to be very difficult for us.”
Palace manager Roy Hodgson admitted after the transfer window closed that Zaha had “beef with the chairman and owners because he wanted to leave” the club.
Parish says he will work on a solution that satisfies all parties but insists Zaha’s exit must be on Palace’s terms.
“I am here to do a job and my relationship with Wilfried has always recognised that. I have never asked him for a favour, he has never asked me for one. It is a professional relationship,” Parish said.
“It was just at that moment we were not aligned, but I will try to find a solution from here.
“Aaron Wan-Bissaka went to Manchester United, so if top clubs come in for our players with the right money, then it is a timing issue. We have to make a plan for the evolution of our squad.
“Wilfried won’t be here forever, and we must be ready for him to go, if he does go. The last day of the transfer window, however, is not going to be it.”
