Arsenal's pursuit of Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha is well and truly underway after the Gunners lodged a bid of £40m on Monday.

Palace are expected to reject the offer and stand by their £80m valuation, but Arsenal's bid shows they're serious about signing the 26-year-old.

Zaha was outstanding in the Premier League last season and it's reported that he wants to leave Palace for the club he supported as a child.

It's also been claimed by Sky Sports that Zaha is unlikely to train with Palace ever again because he's absolutely set on leaving.

Since Arsenal's bid, Zaha's brother Judicael has publicly urged Palace to let the forward leave and chase his dream.

"Wilfried will always hold Crystal Palace and their fans in the highest regard and all the support they've given means the world to him," he said. "It's my brother's dream, though, to play for Arsenal.

"Given all Wilfried has given to Palace to help them remain a Premier League club, I hope Palace will be able to see their way to agreeing a deal with Arsenal that allows Wilfried to realise his dream of playing European football for the club he's supported since childhood."

Zaha is currently with the Ivory Coast national team at the Africa Cup of Nations and after beating Namibia 4-1 on Monday night, he was asked about potentially joining Arsenal.

"I don't know, we'll see in the future," Zaha told reporters. "I have no comment on it, the only thing that's on my mind now is trying to win this cup. I'm fixated on how far we go in the tournament."

Zaha understandably wants to stay quiet on the situation, but unfortunately for him a tweet from seven years ago has emerged of him calling Arsenal's defence a "shambles".

It came during a 3-2 defeat for Arsenal to Swansea City and at the time Zaha wanted to make his feelings clear about their back line. He's since deleted it, but screenshots were taken.

Seven and a half years later and Zaha's tweet still applies to Arsenal's defence. Awkward.

Arsenal can expect Palace to reject their £40m bid, but if Zaha is that desperate to join the Gunners then maybe there could be some room for negotiation over his £80m price tag.