Wilfried Zaha
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 12/ 2016
Personal information
Full name
Dazet Wilfried Armel Zaha
Date of birth
10 November 1992
Place of birth
Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Height
5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position
Winger
Club information
Current team
Crystal Palace
Number
11
Youth career
Crystal Palace
2004-2010
Senior career*
Crystal Palace
2010-2013
110x apps / 12x goals
Manchester United
2013-2015
2x apps / 0x goal
→ Crystal Palace (loan)
2013
16x apps / 1x goals
→ Cardiff City (loan)
2014
12x apps / 0x goal
→ Crystal Palace (loan)
2014-2015
16x apps / 1x goals
Crystal Palace
2015-
65x apps / 8x goals
National team
England U19
2011
2x apps / 0x goal
England U21
2012-2013
13x apps / 1x goal
England
2012-2013
2x apps / 0x goal
(* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:51, 26 December 2016 (UTC) - ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14:41, 4 April 2016 - UTC)
Dazet Wilfried Armel Zaha , known as Wilfried Zaha, is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Crystal Palace.
Zaha advanced into the Crystal Palace first team from their academy in 2010.
In January 2013, he transferred to Manchester United for an initial fee of £10 million, but remained on loan at Palace until the end of the season, helping them return to the Premier League.
After an unsuccessful 2013-14 season with Manchester United (partly spent on loan at Cardiff City), Zaha returned to Palace in August 2014 on a season-long loan, before rejoining the club on a permanent basis in February 2015.
Born in the Ivory Coast, Zaha grew up in England from the age of four.
He made his debut for the England national team in 2012.
He made two non competitive appearances for England, the last of which coming in 2013, before switching his allegiances to the Ivory Coast ahead of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
Early life
Born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Zaha moved with his family – including his eight siblings – to Thornton Heath in the London Borough of Croydon, at the age of four.
He was educated at Whitehorse Manor Junior School, Thornton Heath and Selsdon High School, Selsdon.
He played football at school, and joined the Crystal Palace academy aged 12.
Club career
Crystal Palace
2009-10 season
Zaha was given his Crystal Palace first-team debut at home to Cardiff City on 27 March 2010 by caretaker manager Paul Hart as a substitute with 10 minutes remaining in the match.
He signed a two-year professional contract with Palace during April 2010.
2010–11 season
He quickly progressed through the ranks at Palace and became a key member of the first team during the 2010–11 pre-season friendlies.
On 7 August 2010, he scored his first senior goal in a 3:2 win over Leicester City.
Speaking after this match, Palace defender Paddy McCarthy praised Zaha and compared him to Victor Moses.
Zaha assisted Kieron Cadogan in the home game against Queens Park Rangers and James Vaughan in the away game at Watford.
On 12 April 2011, he was sent off in the 95th minute against Leicester City for an alleged stamp on Patrick van Aanholt but it was later rescinded.
Zaha ended the season playing a total of 44 games, while scoring 1 goal and having 2 assists in all competitions.
2011–12 season
Zaha started the 2011–12 season by scoring two goals in a League Cup game on 23 August 2011 at home to Crawley Town.
On 30 November, Zaha impressed in Crystal Palace's 2:1 shock win over Manchester United in the League Cup, constantly sneaking through the United defence and in January, attracting interest from Liverpool and Manchester United.
In March 2012, Zaha was voted The Football League's Young Player of the Year.
In the latter part of the season, manager Dougie Freedman opted to play Zaha as a striker and on 21 April he scored in a 2:2 draw with Reading, in a game that saw Reading secure the Championship title.
At the end of the 2011-12 season, Zaha was voted Crystal Palace Young Player of the Year for a second time in a row.
During this season, he played a total of 48 games while scoring 9 goals and having 5 assists.
2012–13 season
Zaha started the 2012–13 season brightly, getting an assist in the League Cup against Exeter City and winning a penalty in the first league game against Watford.
Zaha scored his first two goals of the season against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 2 October 2012.
He then scored two goals in a game again, four days later, in a 4:3 win over Burnley.
By November, Palace were top of the Championship after a 2:1 win against Leicester, a 2:0 win against Blackburn and a 5:0 win against Ipswich Town.
On 5 March 2013, Zaha scored his first goal for Crystal Palace since being loaned back from Manchester United, in a 4:2 victory against promotion rivals Hull City.
On 13 May 2013, in the second leg of the play off semi-final against Brighton, Zaha scored two goals in the second half to put Crystal Palace into the play-off final at Wembley Stadium.
In the play-off final on 27 May 2013, Zaha won a penalty that was converted to secure Crystal Palace a Premier League spot for 2013–14.
Manchester United
On 25 January 2013, Zaha agreed to join Premier League side Manchester United, and would immediately be loaned back to Crystal Palace for the remainder of the season.
Palace tried to delay the transfer and agree the transfer in the summer of 2013, but Football League rules prevented this with the player having to join United and be loaned back to Palace.
Zaha passed the medical at Manchester United, signing a five-and-a-half-year contract on 26 January 2013 for a reported £10m rising to £15m with performance-related add-ons.
2013-14 season
On 11 August 2013, Zaha made his debut for Manchester United in the 2013 FA Community Shield against Wigan Athletic.
He was included in the starting line-up and played 61 minutes before being replaced by Antonio Valencia as he won his first major honour in football.
On 31 January 2014, Zaha completed a loan move to Cardiff City for the remainder of the 2013–14 season after being left out of favour by then manager David Moyes.
Return to Crystal Palace
2014-15 season
On 28 August 2014, Zaha agreed to a season-long loan deal with Crystal Palace.
Two days later, in the first match of his loan, he scored a stoppage-time equaliser in a 3:3 draw at Newcastle United.
On 2 February 2015, the final day of the winter transfer window, Zaha's move to Palace was made permanent with the signing of a five-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee.
It also included a buy back clause, believed to be in the region of £3 million, rising to £6 million with add-ons; Manchester United will also receive a percentage of the fee if Palace sell Zaha in the future.
Zaha played regularly for Crystal Palace throughout the season, finishing the season with 4 goals and 2 assists as Crystal Palace finished the league in 10th place, their highest ever place.
2015-16 season
Again, Zaha was a regular for Crystal Palace in this season, playing 34 games and getting 2 goals and 1 assist, while Crystal Palace finished in 15th place.
He helped Crystal Palace reach the 2016 FA Cup final, by playing in every game since the third round entry and scoring 2 goals along the way.
Zaha played the whole 120 minutes in the final, but could not help Palace to a victory, as Manchester United won 2:1.
Zaha won the Crystal Palace player of the season for the first time.
2016-17 season
On December 26, 2016 Zaha was declined a penalty in the closing minutes against Watford FC.
Some speculated that Zaha had overplayed the foul or taken a dive.
After the match Watford's mascot attempted to rile Zaha up by mimicking a dive in front of him.
Zaha was angry and had to be escorted off the field.
International career
Zaha was eligible to represent both the Ivory Coast and England, the former because it was where he was born and the latter because it is where he grew up.
His success over the course of his first full season resulted in a call-up to the England under-19 side for their game against Germany in February 2011.
He was called up to the under-21 team on 23 February 2012.
He made his debut in a 4:0 win against Belgium on 29 February, assisting Henri Lansbury for the third goal.
On 11 November 2012, Zaha was called up to the senior team by manager Roy Hodgson for a friendly match against Sweden on 14 November.
He came on as a substitute for fellow debutant Raheem Sterling in the 83rd minute.
On 27 November 2016, the Ivorian Football Federation confirmed that Zaha had sent correspondence to FIFA to switch his international football allegiance from England to the Ivory Coast.
In response to this development, Gareth Southgate indicated he would try to dissuade Zaha from changing allegiance due to his consistent club form.
He was named in the Ivory Coast squad for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.