Wilfried Zaha - Sold to Crystal Palace

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Never seen the lad play. What you guys think? Is that another Obertan/Tosic type transfer or has the lad the talent to make it here?
 
a combination of Maradona and Best apparently....

from what I saw on youtube, he looks very good ..but just like watching Chicho on youtube before we signed him...you really cannot tell.

The fact several big clubs were in for him says he must be quality.

After our coaching staff get through polishing him...he will be a very good addition I'm sure. I also think this spells the end of one of Nani or Valencia..or both.
 
Comsmit said:
Lucas Moura is about as sure a thing as you can get. Yes he was overpriced but PSG have to pay higher than United or Barcelona. They are a club aiming high, it's like City, you have to pay a higher premium to attract the best talent. He was very good at the Olympics actually, completed 85 of his 92 passes and looked so comfortable on the ball.

There is a clear difference in buying merely "potential" as Ferguson calls it....and buying "a sure thing." Zaha is frankly nowhere near Lucas Moura in terms of current ability never mind potential ability. I don't see the Zaha signing as a gamble, to me it is more of a lazy, relatively expensive punt that could pay marginal dividends if the player has the capacity to learn and add more awareness and intelligence to his game. He has some raw attributes but he just doesn't possess the more subtle technique, touch, vision and passing ability of Lucas. They are a world away from each other in truth.
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There is some shite talked in here. What's "lazy" about this signing?
 
I honestly don't think he is any less exciting than Lucas Moura or any other young winger. I'd have thought a lazy signing is getting someone who is sure thing by paying a premium and not signing someone who has ingredients to be successful but still needs a good amount of polishing.

My only disappointment is that we have to wait till next season for him to play for us. He will have got a good handful of games and the experience of being involved in title race will have helped him too.

It's unfair on him or any other player to be compared with Ronaldo or Messi or to have the expectation of reaching a similar level. They are quite clearly outliers while others can still turn out to be good though not that good.
 
A quick, a semi-related, comment regarding Zaha and his transfer to us; remember at the beginning of last season when we were heavily linked with Nathaniel Clyne (before he left Palace for Southampton and before Zaha was a name on everyone's lips), was it possible that we went to scout Clyne as an option for right-back, but came back impressed with Zaha instead?

Just a theory, as I doubt we've just been monitoring Zaha since he rose to prominence in the last three months or so.
 
Red Dreams said:
think Clyne was almost a done deal until the last moment. summat to do with his agent. someone posted about that. we may well have seen Zaha then too.
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Yeah, as I said (if I was recalling correctly), it appeared that a Clyne transfer was imminent but then we heard nothing. It's entirely possible that Zaha caught our eye at the time also, but we waited to see how he took to regular first-team football first.

Zaha and Clyne is a fine full-back/winger combination, going on Championship standards.
 
quite a superb young English group United's got now:
- Jones
- Smalling
- Cleverley
- Welbeck
- Zaha
- Powell
- and Rooney's not particularly that old either
 
nahealai said:
A quick, a semi-related, comment regarding Zaha and his transfer to us; remember at the beginning of last season when we were heavily linked with Nathaniel Clyne (before he left Palace for Southampton and before Zaha was a name on everyone's lips), was it possible that we went to scout Clyne as an option for right-back, but came back impressed with Zaha instead?

Just a theory, as I doubt we've just been monitoring Zaha since he rose to prominence in the last three months or so.
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He played against us. We didn't stumble on him we was well aware who he was.
 
Some of the reactions to this signing are hilarious, especially when you consider how little most people have actually seen of him.
 
One thing's for certain....Fergie doesn't have a bad record for big/relatively big English signings.

That's something you can't say is the same with some other bigger teams.
 
Mainoldo said:
He played against us. We didn't stumble on him we was well aware who he was.
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The dogs in the street are now aware of that famous match at Old Trafford by now (Zaha wasn't a monster that night anyway, just one of those tales that grows legs. He was good, at best.)

The time we were linked with Clyne was well before that Carling Cup match against Palace, hence my question.
 
Red Dreams said:
not forgetting the Keane brothers, Tunniclife and Henrique to name a few others.
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1) talking about specificaly English players, otherwise I would've included Rafael & co. as well.

2) talking about players that have impressed playing for the 1st team (in Zaha's case it's not for United's 1st team, but he's impressed at Crystal Palace, more importantly against United)

Although yes in general there are also those that haven't yet cracked the 1st team that show promiss, however it wouldn't feel right adding them to the list just yet.
 
Some gifs posted by a newbie which was originally on beatifullyred.co.uk

Kill 'em all said:
Skills to pay the bills.
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Heskey's long range shooting ability.
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Ability to nutmeg a goalie.
i2eIG9D1wqHz2.gif

Pace of a demon
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Ronaldo Counterattacks
ixMfWGoMRBY77.gaif


Big potential.
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Looks exciting
 
OGkush said:
1) talking about specificaly English players, otherwise I would've included Rafael & co. as well.

2) talking about players that have impressed playing for the 1st team (in Zaha's case it's not for United's 1st team, but he's impressed at Crystal Palace, more importantly against United)

Although yes in general there are also those that haven't yet cracked the 1st team that show promiss, however it wouldn't feel right adding them to the list just yet.
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ahh. missed your point about English players.

overall very pleased with the lads coming through.
 
As much as we talk about end product, I could see this kid causing some frustration when he does play for us. We're not the most forgiving lot. Just look at how some of us talk about welbeck and he's 22.
 
Platato said:
As much as we talk about end product, I could see this kid causing some frustration when he does play for us. We're not the most forgiving lot. Just look at how some of us talk about welbeck and he's 22.
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oh I've no doubt people will be bitching and moaning about him. Especialy now that they have the ammunition ("overpriced English player").
I'd probably bet on quite a few of them saying "stop trying to be Ronaldo, you'll never be as good" whenever he tries to beat an opponent but fails to do so, etc.

Me however, I'm gonna be my usual positive self, I actualy believe Zaha will turn out to be a verry good buy, but only time will tell.
 
I'm positive as well. I just know that there'll be some moments where fans will doubt him simply because of impatience.
 
I am more assured about the boy, when rumors said that Arsenal were interested in him too. If it were Southampton, though...
 
Why do some need to be assured that another so called top team are in for a player?
 
Just common sense, I guess. And it's Arsenal. We were reportedly in for Ramsey, Smalling, and Jones strongly. They all turn out good young British players.
 
I'm getting more and more excited about this signing the more I read about him and clips I see of him. I know its only clips and it's the Championship, but even if he was just on a field by himself some of the things he seems capable of are outstanding!

Cosmit, I'm not quoting what you said because that deserves as little space on here as possible, but that is the most idiotic thing I've seen on Redcafe yet. Well done.
 
Red Dreams said:
strength and skill...superb combination.

still...it will be good to see him after our coaching staff are done with him.
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Yup. He's gonna be definitely a wiser player in terms of decision making.

He already got pace, skills and he's brave enough to take even 2 or 3 defending players on him.

He'll need time, though... about 2 seasons, maybe. The moment, he'll know the reality of Premier League, he'll know what to do and how to use his potential.
 
Rado_N said:
Some of the reactions to this signing are hilarious, especially when you consider how little most people have actually seen of him.
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Exactly. It appears that most have written off a 20 year olds career before its even started.
 
Is there anything in particular I should look out for in that 15 minute video of Zaha. I got bored after 3 minutes. He's definitely skillful. I'll give him that but is that it?
 
The Neviller said:
There is some shite talked in here. What's "lazy" about this signing?
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Primarily because it wasn't difficult in the slightest to acquire the player. He is young, English, plays for a Championship side and there was no confirmed competition for his signature.

Just doesn't strike me as a transfer of real ambition. That isn't to say it may not prove a success, but it's still a punt, and quite an expensive one. Obviously in the current market you rarely acquire a "sure thing" for £10-15 million. I'm still looking forward to seeing him perform and improve with top players around him.

That ok for you? I'm assuming that was the only segment of shite in my previous post?
 
sterling, ox, moses, zaha......curious to see who turns out to be the best in 5 years.

looks like each of our 'big clubs' seems to have one of 'these type' of players.

*not racist*:nervous:
 
cpfc90 said:
I posted this on another United site but will copy it to here, unfortunately I can only post in this section so would be grateful if a mod can move the post to the main section if happy to do so.

"Hi guys, Palace fan here.

I haven't read the thread, just wanted to come on and give some feedback on Zaha as it's hard to know with football league players due to there being little coverage. Basically, Zaha is overrated. Don't worry, this is going somewhere positive. In terms of ability Palace fans overrate Zaha, the media for whatever reason also overrate Zaha. In terms of potential then the sky really is the limit as the kid is different to most wingers. Wilf can beat upto four players with ease, at once. That's something that cannot be taught by any coach regardless of how good they are, so he will rarely get into dead end situations like you see with most wingers like Walcott, Lennon, Young and so on.

Zaha's stats aren't the greatest (not that people should be judging a player on stats anyway), but his assists are very misleading. 90% of our goals are due to Zaha in some way. If there was such things as 'assist an assister' then Zaha would be in double figures already. His end product needs working on as most youngsters do but that is something that can be taught, where as what I posted above can't, which could lead to him becoming the full package and a superstar in the game. He very much reminds me of when Ronaldo first joined you guys, though I'm not saying he will be as good as Ronaldo but he could well be, he has that much potential.

We down at Palace tend to vastly overrate our youngsters, I try not to look at things through rose tinted glasses. I understand its an underwhelming signing and it's a lot of money, I'm delighted with the money we've received but I'll be quite sad to see him go in May. You have a youngster that can easily become one of the best wingers in the game and I hope he enjoys plenty of success with you."
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From the noobs.
 
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