Emmanuel Petit has issued a warning to about signing former target Wilfried Zaha this summer.
Zaha, 29, has been linked with the Gunners since 2019 when he was the subject of interest from the then-Gunners manager .
After a drop off in form, the Ivory Coast international has been instrumental in ’s impressive performances this season and is being touted once again as a possible target for Arsenal.
However, Petit – who won the double with the north London side in 1998 – believes signing Zaha could hamper Gabriel Martinelli’s development on the left wing.
Speaking to , he said: ‘I love watching Zaha. He’s an electric player. He can be strange on the pitch sometimes, with his provocations.
‘But I really liked his reactions against Arsenal, he controlled his reactions, he was smiling, he was very confident. It should be like that for every game.
‘Of course, he would fit in well at Arsenal. But my question would be, what do you do with Gabriel Martinelli? Martinelli has been very good since his injury and he’s following in the same footsteps of Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka.
‘This is the next generation of Arsenal players and if you brought in Zaha then he’d play regular football and Martinelli would be on the bench.
‘So I’m not quite sure about that. Arsenal need competition in their squad, for sure, but when you see the prospect of young players, you have to be very careful with the players you bring into the club.’
Although Mikel Arteta’s young side have so far enjoyed an encouraging season, the Spaniard will be looking to bolster a squad which looks very thin beyond the first-team.
Back in January last year, Zaha told Jamie Carragher that he nearly signed for Arsenal three years ago before the club decided to take £72million Nicolas Pepe from Lille instead.
Speaking on , he said: ‘I had a conversation with the manager (Emery), actually. He was just like, ‘we don’t need to go through much’. He’s seen me play, he knows I can change games at any time and stuff like that. It was like, ‘yeah, we’d love to have you’.
‘And I was just like ‘I’d love to come’. The conversation was rather straightforward because I’ve played against him when he’s managed Arsenal, he’s seen what I can do, he’s seen my work rate, what I can add to the team. Obviously, it was up to the club who they chose, and obviously they chose Pepe over me.’
Zaha has scored 10 goals in 25 Premier League appearances this season, helping the Eagles climb into the top-half of the table and reach the FA Cup semi-finals.
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