WILF POWER
Zaha’s now showing his true worth for Palace
SOMEWHERE, Sir Alex Ferguson has that ‘I told you so’ look on his face. It seems the former Manchester United manager was right all along. There is a player in Wilfried Zaha.
The Crystal Palace winger provided further evidence of his boundless talent on Saturday with a stunning display against champions- elect Chelsea. A brilliant goal and an assist for Christian Benteke’s winner breathed life into the title race.
And Zaha is also breathing life into a career that stagnated at United. He may not admit it publicly, but Zaha’s switch to Old Trafford was a mistake. Not because he was not good enough but because he was not ready.
Ferguson signed the 20-year-old in January 2013, agreeing that the forward could stay at Palace until the end of the season to help them secure promotion to the Premier League.
So all eyes were on Zaha when he arrived that summer for his first United training session. His new team-mates had heard the hype — but was there substance to it?
What they discovered was a player with heaps of potential but one who was not ready for United.
Indeed, there were some who believed Zaha was not even at the required standard to train with the first team.
There was a feeling he struggled with the intensity of new manager David Moyes’s sessions.
The fact the manager who signed him had retired weeks earlier did not help. But Zaha did not help himself, either. Talk of a poor attitude and bad timekeeping dogged him. Turning up 45 minutes late for a reserve game was the final straw for Moyes.
Zaha played only three competitive fixtures for United, totalling 106 minutes of football.
Loan spells at Cardiff and Palace followed before he completed a permanent return to Selhurst Park in February 2015.
Confidence shattered and career at a standstill, Zaha started on the road to recovery. Two years on, the reinvigorated player is now emerging as the leader in Crystal Palace’s fight for Premier League survival.
Word has it that Sam Allardyce and his staff have been pleasantly surprised by Zaha’s attitude. He has completely bought into Allardyce’s work ethic.
Some things never change, of course. Zaha remains shy, but those at the club’s training HQ believe he has become more open since his first spell at Palace. He still comes with a large entourage, too — Zaha taking it upon himself to look after his vast family who, at times, can take an overbearing interest in his affairs.
Even the furore over his decision to play for his country of birth rather than England could not break his stride. He is not pining after an international career with England. He was born in the Ivory Coast, after all.
But just as Zaha is proving himself as a top-level footballer, Palace are faced with losing him a second time.
A Tottenham bid, via an email from chairman Daniel Levy, came out of the blue last August.
It caused consternation at the south London club. But Palace refused to play ball and Zaha stayed, although Sportsmail understands the club provided the player with a financial incentive not to force a move.
Tottenham’s interest remains, however. Palace will offer to make Zaha the highest-paid player in the club’s history in an attempt to fend them off. Such a deal — with wages at around the £100,000-aweek mark — is likely to be worth more than Spurs will offer.
The worry for Palace, however, is whether Zaha could resist a second crack at the big time. He is certainly far better equipped to make a success of it now.