It somewhat goes without saying that Wilfried Zaha is Crystal Palace’s talisman.

The Ivorian winger, who made his return to the Eagles starting line-up in the slender 1-0 win against West Bromwich Albion last time out, has constantly been a source of inspiration for the London club.

However, in an exclusive interview with Football Fan Cast, Steve Howey has suggested that chairman Steve Parish could be tempted to “cash in” on the winger this summer.

If that is indeed the case, they would be making a huge mistake.

In his time with Palace, Zaha has made a total of 384 appearances for the Eagles, scoring 66 goals and providing 72 assists.

Since Zaha returned to Selhurst Park from Manchester United, only Christian Benteke is the next most prolific player in the current squad with just 28 goals and 11 assists.

When looking at the winger this season, he has been even better. So far, he has scored nine goals and provided two assists in the Premier League.

His goals alone have been worth approximately nine points to Roy Hodgson’s men throughout the campaign. Without him, the Eagles could be stuck on 28 points and firmly in the picture for relegation to the Championship.

It’s no surprise then that without him, the Eagles struggle. Their record without the £45m-rated forward is truly abysmal.

Since the start of the 2015/16 season, Palace have played 28 matches without Zaha. They have won just five.

Averaged over a 38-game season, this would give the club only seven victories, a haul that would surely see them destined for the drop in any campaign.

With Palace boss Roy Hodgson saying that Zaha is “hard to stop” when he is on top form, it seems inconceivable that Palace would even consider selling their one spark of inspiration for any price but if they do, they'll need to get a massive fee for him, but even then, they might find it tough to replace their talismatic forward.

AND in more news, have a closer look at Luka Milivojevic's excellent performance in Palace's 1-0 win against West Bromwich Albion...