Wilfried Zaha

Wednesday, 09/11/2011

by James Beavis

Wilfried Zaha
Club: Crystal Palace
Birth date: November 10, 1992
Birth place: Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Position: Striker

It's been an action-packed 15 months for Wilfried Zaha since he made his full debut for Crystal Palace on the first day of the 2010-11 season.

The 19-year-old striker managed to get on the score-sheet on that day, giving the Eagles the lead, before they eventually went on to beat Leicester 3-2 at Selhurst Park. The performance was described by many as similar to ex-Palace forward Victor Moses, who is now plying his trade in the Premier League for Wigan.

And the similarities are understandable considering the attributes of both players.

Whilst neither have particularly impressive goal-scoring records – Moses scored 11 in 69 for Palace and Zaha currently has 6 in 63 – they both have certain traits that make them targets for sides looking for an all round modern day footballer.

You only have to look at the success of players such as Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott at the top level to see how imperative pace and skill can be, and Zaha, who is yet to decide whether he wants to represent England or his birthplace the Ivory Coast internationally, has both of these in abundance.

Zaha, who signed a new four-and-a-half year contract last November, has started this campaign in sparkling form and his side, who are currently challenging in the top six, have reaped the benefits.

Despite predominantly being a substitute so far this term, it is the telling contributions he is making when he is brought on as an impact player that have produced admiring glances from some of the best teams in the world.

In the home match against Coventry in August, where his club were trailing 1-0 approaching the 90th minute, Zaha was influential in turning the game on its head and securing all three points for the hosts.

Firstly, the attacker’s strike from outside the box was parried into the path of Sean Scannell, who fired home, and in the fifth minute of injury time, in a repeat of the goal a couple of minutes before, another Zaha effort was spilled, and Jermaine Easter was the grateful party to give Palace the victory.

Arguably though, his finest contribution to date came in the encounter against their arch-enemies Brighton at South Coast outfit’s brand new AMEX stadium at the end of September.

With his side trailing 1-0 with just ten minutes left, Zaha embarked on a run, weaving past a couple of Albion players, before unleashing a shot into the bottom corner.

Palace were now in the ascendency and the striker played a great through ball to Jonathan Parr, who crossed for Darren Ambrose to make it two.

Former Seagulls player Glenn Murray sealed the points with another in added time as Gus Poyet’s men suffered their first defeat at their new venue against their bitter rivals.

It is showings like those against Coventry and Brighton that have grabbed the attentions of some of the most successful clubs in England and Europe, with Manchester City, Liverpool, Barcelona and Bayern Munich amongst those reportedly expressing their interest in the attacker.

The latter signed Dale Jennings from League One side Tranmere in July thanks to a recommendation from a former German international that played had played against him for MK Dons, Dietmar Hamann, and they will almost certainly be on the lookout for similar talent in the lower divisions of England as a result.

To be linked with prestigious clubs like Barcelona and Liverpool shows how much promise the Ivorian youngster possesses but how much will it cost if one of those teams were to prise Zaha away?

Well £5m has been suggested, and as he is tied to a contract which runs to 2015 then Palace should be entitled to hold out for at least that sum of money, depending on how the player develops over time.

Of course in the present era though, interest from the big clubs can cause unrest in some players, but if Palace can keep him concentrating and improving on his own game, adding more goals along the way, there is no reason why Zaha can’t go on to star at the highest level both domestically and internationally.

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