Tuesday 3 February 2015 07:56, UK
Wilfried Zaha couldn't succeed at Manchester United but the environment at Crystal Palace might just bring the best out of him, writes Adam Bate...
It’s quite the piece of business by Crystal Palace. Fan-favourite Wilfried Zaha returns to Selhurst Park on a permanent basis for a fraction of the fee that saw him move to Manchester United in the summer of 2013. For United, meanwhile, it’s an admission of defeat. The winger and presumed long-term investment made only two Premier League substitute appearances for the club.
But while Palace fans are entitled to feel glad all over that the youngster who fired them into the Premier League to the tune of “Zaha’s too good for you” has agreed a new long-term deal, the very reasons why he can be expected to impress back 'home' must also be regarded as part of the reason why he looks as far away as ever from scaling the heights of which he is capable.
Zaha’s mercurial qualities are precisely what Alan Pardew will be after. “I just felt that we needed a bit more maverick behaviour in the team,” said the Palace boss after turning to Zaha off the bench in the comeback win over Tottenham last month. “Wilfried came and gave us exactly the reaction I was looking for. I left him out, if I'm honest, because I wanted to see what his reaction would be like. This is a boy who, I think, his confidence needs to be rekindled.”
The statistics support the notion of Zaha as a player capable of making things happen on an intermittent basis. Of the 62 players to have completed at least 20 dribbles in the Premier League so far this season, Zaha has the worst success rate. His 29 dribbles have come from 92 attempts at a rate of 31.5 per cent.
While the percentages aren’t impressive, this capacity to conjure an opening from nothing can be well worth it at Palace. If Zaha’s wing wizardry pays off every other game, that could be enough for a spectacular season at Selhurst. At Old Trafford, there are different expectations.
“Just being a Manchester United footballer, the intensity of training, the expectation, it's really hard,” said former United player and coach Phil Neville when discussing Zaha in an interview with the Guardian last season. “It blows you away.” It seems Zaha struggled with that aspect of life at the club from the outset.
For while his time at United was not helped by the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, the man who had signed off on his arrival, and Louis van Gaal’s decision to dispense with wingers, there were also the stories that suggest the player himself was also culpable in his failure to make an impact.
There was the anecdote quoted by Mark Ogden in the Telegraph about how Zaha turned up for United’s 2013 summer tour in jeans and trainers while everyone else was in a suit. Then there was the occasion in the following pre-season, according to James Ducker in The Times, when Zaha was reportedly the only player not to show up for a day of voluntary training.
Too much too soon? With Zaha closing in on 200 senior appearances in English football, an epiphany would appear unlikely. Instead, it could be that he is simply a player more comfortable in an environment where the coach has complete faith in his abilities. Back at Palace and feeling wanted could help bring the best from him again.
“The gaffer has put his trust in me and I am trying to give it back and perform for the team,” said Zaha recently. “When I am here I feel more confident.” That’s a vital quality in any winger and offers hope he will enjoy his second stay at Palace. But it also hints at a fragility that goes some way to explaining why another opportunity at one of the world’s biggest clubs is unlikely to come again soon.
