Wilfried Zaha - Sold to Crystal Palace

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Stickles said:
I believe that the best way to become a top-level PL/CL player is by getting exposure to that as much as possible at as young an age as possible. Else we could end up with a player well into his 20s who hasn't had experience of any of that. We treat young players with kid gloves too much. He's 20 not 15. The learning curve will be steep but why not start asap? Why wait until he's well into his 20s and he plays like someone who's been playing with and coached by some fairly average-standard individuals in fairly average standard-games?

Welbeck's fine but let's not go terribly nuts over him. His record is quite poor for a forward with the number of games he's played so I'm not sure how much of a shining example he is to be honest. His contribution this year seemed to have come largely as a result of injury and exasperation towards Nani, Young and Valencia.
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I don't think one year on loan at a pl club would do him any harm at all. Yes he's 20, so he would come back a 21 year old with a years experience in the top league. He may well settle into the United side right away, and hit the ground running but a loan for a year wouldn't do him any harm.
 
Orton said:
I don't think one year on loan at a pl club would do him any harm at all. Yes he's 20, so he would come back a 21 year old with a years experience in the top league. He may well settle into the United side right away, and hit the ground running but a loan for a year wouldn't do him any harm.
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He's 21 in November which means a year on loan and he'll return just shy of 22. Now that might not seem a great age but it kind of is to be considered a 'young' player if you think in terms of where others are of that age who he will have to be assessed against if he's to succeed at the level we want him to. Thiago - 22, CL experience, player for the best side in Europe over the last four years. Naymar - set to become a shining light in the Barcelona side and played for Brazil. Gotze - numerous experience with Dortmund playing plenty of CL football and now moving to Bayern where this will increase, you'd assume.

Then you look at Zaha and I'm not sure 'Another year at Palace wouldn't hurt' is being realistic. Sure I've picked out some of the most elite young players in the world but this is what we have to at least be using as a guideline. Think of how those players careers are going to improve at their new (hopefully in Thiago's case) clubs and how much the experience they've gained to date has helped them.

Maybe that's a problem we have here. Elsewhere 21/22 if you're good enough or exciting enough you get exposed to football at the highest level. Here you're considered a 'youngster' until you're well into your 20s and before you know if you're 23/24 with no real experience of anything.
 
Moyes just talked about him. Saying he wants to see him play in the pre-season and was non-committal about giving him the chance in the first team this season.
 
I think perhaps the best idea is to keep him until Jan and see how he does as a sub and getting some starts. We can also see how our other wingers do as they're all on shaky ground after last season. Then if he isn't seeing much of the pitch and isnt making a big impact off the bench either, we can then look to loan him out for the second half of the season and have him come back ready to challenge again
 
Stickles said:
He's 21 in November which means a year on loan and he'll return just shy of 22. Now that might not seem a great age but it kind of is to be considered a 'young' player if you think in terms of where others are of that age who he will have to be assessed against if he's to succeed at the level we want him to. Thiago - 22, CL experience, player for the best side in Europe over the last four years. Naymar - set to become a shining light in the Barcelona side and played for Brazil. Gotze - numerous experience with Dortmund playing plenty of CL football and now moving to Bayern where this will increase, you'd assume.

Then you look at Zaha and I'm not sure 'Another year at Palace wouldn't hurt' is being realistic. Sure I've picked out some of the most elite young players in the world but this is what we have to at least be using as a guideline. Think of how those players careers are going to improve at their new (hopefully in Thiago's case) clubs and how much the experience they've gained to date has helped them.

Maybe that's a problem we have here. Elsewhere 21/22 if you're good enough or exciting enough you get exposed to football at the highest level. Here you're considered a 'youngster' until you're well into your 20s and before you know if you're 23/24 with no real experience of anything.
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Totally agree with this. We seem to have so many potentially exciting talents hover on the outskirts only to wither and feck off somewhere else without really catching sight of the first team. Granted you'd be hard pushed to come up with an example (Pogba aside) of one who's flourished once they've left but I like the idea of a youngster being given his head in that giddy flush of excitement and confidence when they think they can do anything. Zaha is on a high, all wide-eyed and enthusiastic. Give him a run, have him in squads, involve him, see how he does before farming him out.
 
I wouldn't be in favour of a loan deal at all. Would rather he stuck around and got used to the pressures of being at such a big club, to get used to his new teammates, etc. He would also no doubt play easily 20
odd games.
 
Most of the truly exceptional youngsters we've brought through under SAF weren't sent on loan, bar a few odd exceptions, and very few of them past the age of 18/19. If the club deem he is fit to be in that exceptional category of players then I'm sure we'll probably keep him.
 
Agreed, I'd be extremely surprised if we sent him on loan. Aside from the fact that he looks well past that in terms of physical and technical development, one of the main reasons we use loans is to give academy youngsters and foreign purchases the chance to experience the intense competitiveness and physicality of first or second tier English football before they come into the first team mix. Zaha's already had that.
 
I reckon Moyes will deem him good enough to play as maybe third (or even second dependent on the transfer window) choice on either wing and that should get him some 20 games I think. Especially if those we had last season doesn't find any form or keep on getting injured.
 
Brightonian said:
Agreed, I'd be extremely surprised if we sent him on loan. Aside from the fact that he looks well past that in terms of physical and technical development, one of the main reasons we use loans is to give academy youngsters and foreign purchases the chance to experience the intense competitiveness and physicality of first or second tier English football before they come into the first team mix. Zaha's already had that.
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I dunno though, it's a bit of a unique situation because assuming Nani does stay, we're pretty well stocked on the wings still, it's a case of whether he'll get enough game time really. I wouldn't see the harm in sending him back to palace now that they're in the PL, but on the other hand, if Moyes thinks he's good enough to merit 20-30 games a season then we should definitely hold on to him.
 
If a player has already gained a load of first team experience and is able to make an impact in the first team then what would be the point in sending him on loan?
 
He already sent Crystal Palace to Premiership. He'll do fine, here and surely deserve a solid tournee full of games, especially when Young and Nani are out.

Moyes seems to trust him and I can't wait to see him doing what he did against United, that day we were knocked out. Very excited.
 
Really looking forward to hopefully seeing Wilfried Zaha play for us for the first time today. I think the fact that he was signed in January and that we have all been able to keep tabs on him over the past 6 months at Crystal Palace may have take some of the "buzz" out of this signing, but I am genuinely very excited to see him play for us this season.

His performances for Palace after signing for us suggested that on the whole he not only had a lot of ability and talent, but also a good temperament in difficult and important situations which will all be crucial at United. He is almost the classic, exciting young United prospect too - trickery, pace, natural talent, English/British etc. I hope he earns the right early on for Moyes to trust him more as the season progresses.

I believe he can and will surprise a lot of people, not only being a good impact player but actually going on to becoming an important player for us this season and hopefully a great player in years to come. The opportunity is certainly there for him to immediately try to stake a claim for a place on the wing.
 
He is exactly the type of player SAF loves to have. As you said, tricky, quick, natural talent but still raw. I think he'll become brilliant, I don't know how good but he's learning from some of the best. I'm sure Giggsy can give him some special attention now he's a coach as well.
 
Swaters16 said:
He is exactly the type of player SAF loves to have. As you said, tricky, quick, natural talent but still raw. I think he'll become brilliant, I don't know how good but he's learning from some of the best. I'm sure Giggsy can give him some special attention now he's a coach as well.
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I'm not sure how to tell you this, but.....
 
I meant to write somewhere in there that it's a shame he's not our coach. SAF's still at the club though and I'm sure he'll be involved in Zaha's development.
 
That was a promising start. He did look nervous, I remember his very first touch was full of incertitude, but he did well after that. His dynamism is what makes him dangerous, add to that his skill and flair. We started playing football again after he came on, he's one "those players".
 
MoneyMay said:
That was a promising start. He did look nervous, I remember his very first touch was full of incertitude, but he did well after that. His dynamism is what makes him dangerous, add to that his skill and flair. We started playing football again after he came on, he's one "those players".
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...don't use words like 'incertitude' here mate...it's the caf.... :-)
 
I think he will get plenty of games this season and looks to have a lot of potential. Hopefully the added competition on the wings will also raise the other wingers we have.
 
looked a useful player. Don't think we should send him on loan at the moment. I think we give him the first half of the season to see what he can do amongst the first team.
 
Did anyone see Rio's pre-season-diary clip? :lol:

Zaha looks so humble and petrified of being close to all of these stars. And then when he comes on to the pitch, he's got so much confidence.

He's going to be a star.
 
There's no way I'd send him on loan. He should be in and around the first team. It's not as if our wingers were firing on all cylinders last season. He has a good chance of playing a good amount of games.
 
Why is anyone even humouring the loan talk? Wasn't that just the Daily Mail making up more bull, not even having the decency to make up a 'United Source'.

Unless he suffers an injury, he'll play in 30 games next season without a doubt. Nani and Ashley Young consistently pick up injuries, so even if Nani stays I imagine Zaha will find game time fairly easy to come by, not to mention the fact he looks like he's going to be an astonishingly good player. Don't feck him up Moyes.
 
Its premature to start bigging him up too much. He has raw talent and plenty of bluster but it needs polishing, there's no guarantees to how he will adjust to the Premier League in terms of awareness of the game, decision making etc.

I don't get the Ronaldo comparisons at all it's just lazy.....Cristiano was much much better at the equivalent age. As he is English it's safer to compare to players such as Ashley Young, Walcott, Lennon etc. He should definitely stay at the club even if no wingers are sold.....needs time to prove himself.
 
Top said:
Did anyone see Rio's pre-season-diary clip? :lol:

Zaha looks so humble and petrified of being close to all of these stars. And then when he comes on to the pitch, he's got so much confidence.

He's going to be a star.
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:lol: I saw that it was hilarious. And Rio said "what you scared for?"
 
It's premature of course but I quite like him. He has what I like in a young player. He moves with a certain....electricity. There's a spark about everything he does. Of course it needs to be controlled and properly channeled and we can make an assessment as to how he's getting on with that over the next couple of years. But for now I think he's very exciting. The attributes he needs to harness his skills seem to be ones he'll be more likely to pick up at the club working with better players and staff than he has been used to.
 
Game changed when he come on. I was willing the ball out to him so I could see what dribble he came up with next.
 
Top said:
Did anyone see Rio's pre-season-diary clip? :lol:

Zaha looks so humble and petrified of being close to all of these stars. And then when he comes on to the pitch, he's got so much confidence.

He's going to be a star.
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:lol: Yeah. In the pre-match coverage someone (can't remember who, might have been Paddy, Stewart Gardner or one of our players) said that Zaha is very shy off the pitch, but on it he looks so different.
 
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