Zaha the best player England will never have says Hodgson
ROY HODGSON handed Wilfried Zaha his England debut – and he admits the Crystal Palace wizard’s switch of allegiance to Ivory Coast became a source of regret.
Tomorrow night, the former Three Lions manager must stop a player, right, he rates as one of the most gifted he has coached in 45 years.
Watford manager Hodgson, whose four-year reign at Palace coincided with the most consistent form of Zaha’s career, said: “My admiration for him hasn’t dimmed.”
Almost 10 years ago, the mercurial winger’s cameo appearance off the bench – replacing fellow-debutant Raheem Sterling in the Three Lions’ 4-2 friendly defeat by Sweden – was overshadowed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s four goals, including an amazing overhead kick from 35 yards. Neither of Zaha’s two caps came in a competitive international, so when his native country came calling in Janaury 2017 he was free to make the switch.
Hodgson said: “Every situation has to be judged on the moment and you have to look at it through the eyes of what was happening at the time.
“Wilf had just come back to Crystal Palace after an unsuccessful spell at Manchester
United, where he had been quite depressed and parts of his game had almost disintegrated.
“We profited from that at Palace, but at the time he didn’t have a body of work behind him which encouraged us to throw all our weight behind him [with England] in relation to the competition he had.
“But in terms of his talent and ability, I would absolutely put him up there with the best players I’ve worked with. And on that basis, it’s a pity the Ivory Coast now have him because there is no doubt his natural ability is top level.”