Roy Hodgson speaks on Arsenal's summer interest in Wilfried Zaha

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson has said that Arsenal were never close to signing Wilfried Zaha during the 2019 summer transfer window.

The Gunners were heavily fancied to sign the Ivorian during the recent transfer window but their initial £40m bid was far off from the Eagles' £80m valuation for the attacker.

The north London giants were thereafter tipped to come up with a renewed approach but they instead made the decision to sign Nicolas Pepe from Lille for a club-record £72m fee.

Speaking in a press conference, Hodgson acknowledged that the Gunners did make an offer for the 26-year-old but the package did not come close to meeting their demands.

"Not very close at all as far as I know. I believe that the money that was offered which was widely reported was reasonably accurate, and of course that was way below our valuation," he was quoted as saying by Goal.com.

Zaha is expected to start for the Eagles against Arsenal this weekend and he will come head-to-head against compatriot Pepe, who will have renewed his confidence after two splendid free-kicks in the comeback win over Vitoria in midweek.