Wilfried Zaha - Sold to Crystal Palace

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OnlyTwoDaSilvas said:
I really like what I've seen of Zaha. He's obviously raw and inexperienced, but he was the league's player of the year last year for a reason. He didn't just appear overnight. He's been gradually getting better. If you compare some of his very early appearances to now, he's made some great strides on his physique. He's tall, but he's also got a fair bit of bulk, and he's clearly been using his physique to his advantage, when it comes to shielding the ball, but also when he knocks the ball past his opponent, chases it and uses his muscle to win the physical tussle. His dribbling looks world class already at times. He's got a huge springy sidestep which looks incredibly dangerous. He's going to be a handful.

In his current form and with the momentum he has, he is probably joining United at the right time. Our wingers are struggling a little, and the left wing position is there for the taking, and has been for a long time. I do believe Zaha has to play alot of football next season, whether that's for us or on loan is a different conversation, but he's got stacks of momentum, his confidence looks to be sky high, especially so after sealing his move to United. It would be a huge shame to stunt that momentum, especially when our current options in his position have been incredibly underwhelming this term.

On the left hand side, we have Young who has never really been outstanding for us, Welbeck, Rooney and Kagawa are all suited to central positions, Giggs is 39 and Nani is Nani. I really don't see much of a reason why Zaha shouldn't slot right in for us as a contender to start. If our wingers were performing like last season, it could be a daunting task for young Zaha to get a foot in the door, but he's really got a fantastic opportunity to impress with our current situation.
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Didn't read.
 
Watching Zaha's clips, he seems like Ronaldo in his final year at Sporting or possibly in his first year at United. Gangly, full of tricks, and with a developing eye for goal. Looks like a player who will become at star at United.
 
Raoul said:
Watching Zaha's clips, he seems like Ronaldo in his final year at Sporting or possibly in his first year at United. Gangly, full of tricks, and with a developing eye for goal. Looks like a player who will become at star at United.
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He looks clumsy at times with the ball, but his athleticism is comparable to Ronaldo at similar age.
 
Seems to be great at beating a man but from what I've seen he could do with being more dynamic and mobile when he gets here. I like us best when we're playing a cohesive style with lots of movement among the front players and plenty of quick one-two touch passing. He does seem to like taking his own sweet time to beat a man almost from a standing position at times, and it seems a bit uni-dimensional at times.

Nani, for example, although has faced injury issues over the last year, has, over the last 3 years, improved his ability to function is a fluid system much better to the point where he's been involved in some of our best team goals over the last few years. That's something I like from a wide player, the ability to get involved in the game in different ways and help keep the system fluid rather than just hug the touchline, beat a man and whip in a cross.
 
Palace - Barnsley 0-0.


Zaha 8 MOM. Desperately trying. Won headers (!) and beat his man constantly, and created chances. 1 piece of skill in first half was world class. You can tell he cares about us.
Zaha 8.5 - a first half performance that can only be described as sparkling, faded a little in the second half but some beautiful tricks - looked up for it

http://www.cpfc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=241874
 
Seems like the ones who bother to write long ratings, have Zaha as their MotM.
 
Isotope said:
Seems like the ones who bother to write long ratings, have Zaha as their MotM.
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Sounds like they are the few who bother to watch and be objective.

Appears he's giving all for the cause....can't fault him for that
 
Inigo Montoya said:
Sounds like they are the few who bother to watch and be objective.

Appears he's giving all for the cause....can't fault him for that
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Oh, I agree. Their ratings are more reliable than those one liners "everyone is shit".
 
Palace have only lost form in the last month or so IIRC. He signed for us in January.

Still not a Leicester like Collapse..
 
1-1 at the break. I missed the half, but these are the live comments on him:

  • Take Zaha off, totally uninterested, totally uncommitted. Child
  • Zaha's head is in Manchester
 
he's been there best player this season, so yes.
 
He's 20 playing his 38th game(according to wiki) of the season - probably burnt out.
 
He's also only 20. He's been very good, but as inconsistent as you'd expect a 20 year old to be. He's got alot of talent, but still alot to learn, as we all knew. He was certainly their standout player in terms of flair and talent, but I don't think he's ever been their talisman to be relied on.

And, to be fair, he probably does have an eye on United. It's obviously going to be a huge deal for a young lad at a Championship side to be moving to one of the biggest clubs in the world. It's no coincidence that his form dropped dramatically during all the speculation, then immediately got back on track once he signed.

Not worried. He's wonderfully talented. You don't just lose that. Very excited about him joining us.
 
Zaha 6 - Was alright. Refused to chase back or stick in a foot in the first half but seemed better after the break. Although he didn't make many creative runs into space for a pass
 
He's 20 FFS! long season and he's knackered, pinning all their pitiful hopes on one player....then slagging him off??
 
Doesn't exactly the same thing happen on here to every young player we sign?

In fact, it'll probably happen to Zaha next season
 
Incoming Manchester United signing Wilfried Zaha has revealed he never expected Sir Alex Ferguson to come in for him, and always thought he would end up moving to his boyhood club Arsenal, according to The Sun.

The Crystal Palace winger is set to link up with Manchester United in the summer following the £15m transfer agreed in January. The lifelong Arsenal fan has remained at Selhurst Park on loan to aid their promotion push, but he will begin pre-season with United this summer.

And he's admitted he thought he was set to sign for the Gunners before United swooped in.

The 20-year-old England international said: "It was always Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal in terms of where I could be going.

"I have always supported Arsenal. I did not expect United to come in but they did. Arsenal are a good team but United are one of the best in the world."

The Crystal Palace winger still hopes he can help his current club to the Premier League this season, and the south London club find themselves in the playoffs after falling out of the automatic promotion race.

And while he insists his focus is on Palace at the moment, he conceded he'll be starstruck when he joins United to meet up with the likes of Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs.

"I am anxious and excited," Zaha continued. "I cannot wait. It will be something different. When I walk into that dressing room at United, I do not know what I will feel. I will keep my head down as I am there to play football.

"But I have to admit I will be a bit starstruck. Van Persie and Giggs will be in there - wow. Rooney will be in there - amazing. How can I not be looking forward to this?"
 
Drifter said:
The 20-year-old England international said: "It was always Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal in terms of where I could be going.

"I have always supported Arsenal. I did not expect United to come in but they did. Arsenal are a good team but United are one of the best in the world."
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Ouch.
 
The signing of this kid is a gamble in my opinion. He could turn out to be world class, or he could be totally crap. Depends on his attitude to succeed and how SAF moulds him. Looking forward to seeing him in action
 
Ronnie O'Sullivan said:
The signing of this kid is a gamble in my opinion. He could turn out to be world class, or he could be totally crap. Depends on his attitude to succeed and how SAF moulds him. Looking forward to seeing him in action
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Aye I agree, he looks to have ability that's for sure. The one thing that worries me though is if he's an out and our replacement for Nani because if that's the case no matter how you look at it the squad is weakened and thats not a good thing.
 
Castia said:
Aye I agree, he looks to have ability that's for sure. The one thing that worries me though is if he's an out and our replacement for Nani because if that's the case no matter how you look at it the squad is weakened and thats not a good thing.
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But then you're assuming no other signings will be made. Zaha clearly fits the mould of player that Fergie was after when you consider Hazard and Moura but he also ticks the box of exciting young British talent as well which is always a good thing.

I'd be very surprised if we didnt sign a central midfielder this summer as well. With Scholes looking likely to retire in the summer, Fletcher probably never reaching his heights again and Anderson seemingly being out of favour that only really leaves Carrick and Cleverley as our only orthodox CM's. I think Fergie will strengthen strongly this summer so that he can stay above the rest of the league and strengthen his champions league quest.
 
I said when we signed him that we should have gone in harder to get him over here. He would have been very useful for us and he had already had a huge number of appearances for Palace so feeding him with even more was not too important.

It would have been better having him here to take the nerves off things and let him establish his life in Manchester United as a Manchester United player. Now when he comes he will just have a summer to get comfortable and we can all expect him to have a nervous half a season that goes up and down a lot.

With the form our wingers has been in he would also had got to play a couple of games this half season as well which would have been perfect while he still got used to the United management, training and tactics. I think for his own sake 6 months of "no pressure settling time" would have been brilliant as well and he would have a lot of time to focus on self-development too.
 
Annahnomoss said:
I said when we signed him that we should have gone in harder to get him over here. He would have been very useful for us and he had already had a huge number of appearances for Palace so feeding him with even more was not too important.

It would have been better having him here to take the nerves off things and let him establish his life in Manchester United as a Manchester United player. Now when he comes he will just have a summer to get comfortable and we can all expect him to have a nervous half a season that goes up and down a lot.

With the form our wingers has been in he would also had got to play a couple of games this half season as well which would have been perfect while he still got used to the United management, training and tactics. I think for his own sake 6 months of "no pressure settling time" would have been brilliant as well and he would have a lot of time to focus on self-development too.
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I think it was one of Palace conditions for the transfer to happen not our own idea. They were in a promotion battle and obviously didn't want to lose one of their best players because they'd find it hard to replace him in January, and promotion is worth a lot to a Championship side. More than extra £2m or £3m extra we might have thrown in to the deal had it happened earlier.
 
Annahnomoss said:
I said when we signed him that we should have gone in harder to get him over here. He would have been very useful for us and he had already had a huge number of appearances for Palace so feeding him with even more was not too important.

It would have been better having him here to take the nerves off things and let him establish his life in Manchester United as a Manchester United player. Now when he comes he will just have a summer to get comfortable and we can all expect him to have a nervous half a season that goes up and down a lot.

With the form our wingers has been in he would also had got to play a couple of games this half season as well which would have been perfect while he still got used to the United management, training and tactics. I think for his own sake 6 months of "no pressure settling time" would have been brilliant as well and he would have a lot of time to focus on self-development too.
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I thought the same at the time too, though I think Holloway immediately set out with the mindset of "you're only getting him if we get him back" as promotion was his #1 priority. I guess it shows just how important he is to them, though he's not played all that well since. I imagine Championship football must feel a bit drab when you know you're a United player to be. Still, he should have kept his head up and kept going. He's got alot of impressing to do, and United will be watching him closely every game.
 
Ronnie O'Sullivan said:
The signing of this kid is a gamble in my opinion. He could turn out to be world class, or he could be totally crap
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I rather think that it will be somewhere in between those two. He will probably turn out to be a decent player who has a good number of haters on the CAF. A bit like Ashley Young!
 
Sarni said:
I think it was one of Palace conditions for the transfer to happen not our own idea. They were in a promotion battle and obviously didn't want to lose one of their best players because they'd find it hard to replace him in January, and promotion is worth a lot to a Championship side. More than extra £2m or £3m extra we might have thrown in to the deal had it happened earlier.
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It was discussed in the newbies and nobody had solid evidence neither way about this. Maybe there has been a statement after that where one part said something official about this? Or maybe I just missed it.
 
Annahnomoss said:
It was discussed in the newbies and nobody had solid evidence neither way about this. Maybe there has been a statement after that where one part said something official about this? Or maybe I just missed it.
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It's just basic common sense. Small transfer fee and lose your best player vs. £90 mill for promotion. This way they got the best of both.

Or is it £60 mill?
 
pocco said:
It's just basic common sense. Small transfer fee and lose your best player vs. £90 mill for promotion. This way they got the best of both.

Or is it £60 mill?
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I completely agree that it is common sense, however common sense is not so very common. People do irrational stuff constantly both in high-end business and in regular life. I wouldn't use "it is irrational to do X" as a proof for what actually happened.
 
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