When Crystal Palace pulled off one of the shock wins of the season during the weekend at Chelsea in the Premier League, Sir Alex Ferguson must have been feeling content somewhere. Not because of his affiliation with Manchester United, but because the final official signing of his legendary 26-year career at the Manchester club, Wilfried Zaha was the architect of Palace’s victory at Stamford Bridge.
Zaha was signed from Crystal Palace in the January of 2013 by the red half of Manchester and loaned back to the London club for the remainder of the season. He was signed by Sir Alex keeping in mind his potential, which was on display the previous two seasons as he helped Palace clinch promotion to the Premier League.
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He starred for Palace in the semi-final against Brighton and in the final against Watford at the young age of 19 and won the Football League’s Young Player of the Year as well.
As a result, when Zaha joined the Red Devils in the summer of 2013, the hype surrounding him only grew as United fans believed that they had found their next great winger in the lines of Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham.
However, the manager who signed him, Ferguson, called it a day and current Sunderland manager, David Moyes became the new incumbent of the post.
Admittedly, Zaha struggled to adjust to his new surroundings and quickly fell out of favour with Moyes. After making just four appearances, he was loaned out to Cardiff City till the end of the season and later joined former club Crystal Palace on loan the following season. The Eagles made the move permanent in February 2015 and Zaha set out on the long road to redeeming his fallen star.
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This Premier League season has seen him constantly bring the supporters to their feet with his footwork, and the improving end-product is driving Sam Allardyce’s side away from relegation.
He has scored six goals and assisted seven more to play a key part in 13 goals this season till gameweek 30. Among wingers, only Liverpool’s Sadio Mane (13 goals and five assists) and Chelsea pair Eden Hazard (11 goals and five assists) and winger-striker Pedro (seven goals and seven assists) have a better end-product.
As can be seen in the above comparison, Zaha’s statistics put him ahead of the much-hyped Manchester City wingers, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane, and the Ivorian holds himself in good stead against Hazard and Mane.
Moreover, Zaha is the most fouled player among them, indicating he is always willing to take his marker on, something that is associated with some of the world’s best players like Barcelona’s Neymar.
While the chances he creates per game needs to be worked on, his successful take-ons per game is almost on par with Hazard. Also, the remaining players play for top teams in the league, which means they are surrounded by top quality talent who can help them improve statistically. Zaha, on the other hand, playing for a team battling relegation, can be considered to be performing pretty well.
One significant advantage the 24-year-old has compared to most wingers in the league is the combination of strength and power he possesses, which allow him to cope better with physical defenders.
His strength was on display in the game against Chelsea when he held off several defenders to score the equaliser at the Bridge and his power came to the fore when he scored an outstanding goal for Ivory Coast against Russia during the last international break. These attributes, when combined with his searing pace, directness and dribbling ability, make him a nightmare for oppositions to deal with.
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Palace boss Sam Allardyce commented after the Chelsea match, “Potential is becoming a reality. Wilf (Wilfried Zaha) must feel really good about himself. It was there before he left for the Ivory Coast, he’s continued to show that with them, and he showed it again with his performance and quality of football in possession.”
At 24 years of age, Zaha now needs to remain consistent, a rare feature in wingers and that which separates the great players in that position from one-season wonders. If Zaha can continue improving at this rate, then soon enough, he could step up to a bigger club in the upcoming summer transfer window.
In fact, Zaha is already reported to be on the wish-lists of top clubs this summer with Tottenham hoping to sign him in the upcoming transfer window after missing out on him last summer.
However, unlike last time at Manchester United, the Palace winger will be ready this time around and every step he takes towards realising his potential and delivering on bigger stages will vindicate Sir Alex Ferguson’s decision to take a punt on him at a young age.
