Vieira backs Zaha for a place in the pantheon

ADRIAN KAJUMBA

WHEN some of the inductees into the Premier League’s Hall of Fame were asked recently who may follow in their footsteps, there were some unsurprising suggestions including Kevin De Bruyne, Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah. Patrick Vieira’s hope that Wilfried Zaha would also make it was one that made ears prick up. Of course, Crystal Palace manager Vieira has a vested interest in Zaha doing well enough to be elevated into that discussion. But it is Zaha’s body of work throughout his career that Vieira feels deserves recognition and, at Southampton, the Frenchman picked a fitting player with whom to compare him. ‘Wilfried is a bit like Matt Le Tissier,’ he said. ‘When you play at Palace, at Southampton, you may not get the credit you deserve. You’re not playing in one of the top teams. Hopefully they will get to the Hall of Fame because what they did for Crystal Palace and Southampton, you can’t take it away. ‘Wilfried has been an important player, a special talent, delivering every year. That’s why it’s important for people to recognise his talent.’ Not all of Zaha’s 426 appearances, 81 goals and 73 assists during his two Palace spells have come in the Premier League, but he is the club’s all-time top scorer in the division and the main reason they have remained in it since returning in 2013. Zaha’s enduring value to Palace was there for all to see again at St Mary’s, where he came off the bench to score a brilliant stoppage-time winner, after Eberechi Eze had cancelled out Oriol Romeu’s early header. It was a career-best 12th league goal of the campaign for Zaha, though Vieira said he should have more and has the ability to be a 20-a-season man. Now surrounded by the most attacking quality he has seen at Palace, that is a realistic target. But with his contract up in 2023, will he be around next season to aim for it? ‘You’ll have to see,’ said Zaha.