The Crystal Palace winger’s time at Old Trafford did not work out but he ‘does not see it as anything special’ that United are the team he will face at Wembley
If Wilfried Zaha is embittered then he hides it pretty well. The adrenaline was still pumping through the Crystal Palace winger’s body an hour or so after thefinal whistle at Wembley stadium on Sunday evening, the time potentially ripe to lay bare all those aspirations to exert a measure of revenge, when talk inevitably drifted to Manchester United, a transfer that never quite paid off and an FA Cup final to have the juices flowing.
Personal motivation should not prove a problem. Surely the collision that lies ahead on 21 May offers Zaha a platform to demonstrate just what his former employers passed up when sanctioning his return to south London just over a year ago after a measly four appearances? Apparently not. “Everyone goes on about Manchester United all the time but they’re just another team in the final,” he snapped back. “I don’t see it as anything special. It can be United, Aston Villa, Chelsea or whoever. My only objective is to win with Palace. It doesn’t mean anything to me who we play.
“Look, I went to United and what happened there happened. I’m back at Palace now and playing for this club. I don’t have anything against United. Playing them won’t make me run any faster or try any harder. I’ll still play the same way I play. Yeah, hopefully I can score against them – and I’ll be buzzing if I do – but all I want to do is win the final. We’ve got there now and we all just want to go all the way.” And, with that, he shuffled on towards the exit, a player as tired of the United issue as he was knackered by an afternoon of all-energy effort that had served to eclipse Watford.
Many consider Zaha an enigma, whether reflecting upon his obvious talents on the field or his matter-of-fact honesty off it. He infuriates opposing players and supporters, who spit criticism his way at a perceived eagerness to hit the turf at every hint of a challenge. Watford’s fans spent Sunday afternoon doing just that, their club already scarred by penalties won by the winger from befuddled right-backs in a Championship play-off final and a Premier League fixture at Vicarage Road. In truth, it was his trickery at searing pace and skill on the ball, all Velcro control, which induced the fouls and left Nathan Aké or José Manuel Jurado diminished.
His markers never came to terms with a player who had gone into the fixture labouring with a shoulder injury and a knock sustained in his return to Old Trafford in midweek. Imagine what he might have achieved if fully fit. That run from deep inside his own half following a Watford corner, a charge away from Allan Nyom, Jurado and Aké, which was eventually suffocated by the retreating right-back Nyom just inside the penalty area, rather summed it all up. There have been 42 appearances this season – he boasts 220 senior appearances for Palace at the age of 23 – and his delivery, once so unpredictable, is improving with regular involvement at the higher level.
Where he was so raw when gracing Wembley in three successive games in the summer of 2013 – in the play-off final with Palace, the Community Shield with United and a friendly against Scotland with England – now he offers menace, even if he acknowledges there is work to be done on his finishing. “The gaffer’s given me the chance to play and, slowly but surely, I’m getting there,” he said. “My best is yet to come. I’ve still got a couple of aspects of my game that I need to sort out but I’m close.” Alan Pardew met Sir Alex Ferguson last week and the Scot asked after the player he had made his last major signing at Old Trafford, a sense of regret lingering at the way things worked out. Ferguson had spied the potential from which Palace are now benefiting.
Yet, where Zaha’s lavish ability hogs the limelight on the pitch, off the field he can be almost painfully shy in the public eye. He retains an innocence that had perhaps set him slightly apart at Old Trafford, where life at an elite club must have felt alien because he had been plucked straight from the Championship. When things were not working out, with David Moyes clearly bereft of faith in the youngster’s talent, there was no fallback for a player still rough around the edges and effectively seeking to learn his trade in a team scrutinised more than any other. Given how United were readjusting post-Ferguson, the timing was all off.
However, Zaha still considered his return to Palace, initially on loan in 2014, as a homecoming as much as a relief. He is at ease in surroundings he has known since he was 12, cherished by the club and the academy through which he graduated, and that education has come in the first team. He has a role at Palace. This is a player who, while born in Abidjan, grew up in Thornton Heath and recognises what he offers to the community as a local lad made good. Since signing his first professional deal he has given 10% of his wages to charities based in south London and Ivory Coast, and has taken to visiting young offenders’ institutes, schools and youth advice centres in Croydon – voluntarily and in his own time – to speak to teenagers with whom he can empathise.
“When I was growing up I saw people all around who lacked figures to look up to and show them what they could achieve,” he said in the buildup to Sunday’s semi-final. “That might have made a difference for them. I still live here, I have time, so there’s no reason I can’t go and give them a bit of my experience. I’m only a footballer but certain people see you as an icon – an inspiration or whatever. If I can help by being that, I will. If it affects people in a positive way, I’m happy.” The club’s community wing rightly use him as their poster boy.
Given his desire to lead a “normal life”, Zaha would probably squirm at the thought that his status as a role model is being discussed. He will be far more comfortable at the thought of the stage that awaits in a month’s time when Palace enjoy their second appearance in an FA Cup final – and his trickery on the flank will be such a key component of the team’s approach.
“This is massive,” he added. “To be in the team when we’ve come this far … Well, now we just want to go all the way.”
by Dominic Fifield
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