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“Wilfried Zaha? I know some ‘Saha’ but I don’t know if it’s the right one,” mentioned Erik Hamren the coach of Swedish national team when asked about the Crystal Palace midfielder Wilfried Zaha who was included in the England squad to face the Swedes in a friendly. There were some eyebrows raised when he compared himself to the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Who exactly is Wilfried Zaha ? Is he the next big thing in English and World football ? Lets have a look.
Dazet Wilfried Armel Zaha was born in Ivory Coast in 1992 and his family moved to England when he was 4. He started playing football for Crystal Palace since he was a 10-year-old. Since then, he has rapidly progressed and has grown up to be one of the best in the present Crystal Palace line-up. Zaha plays as a winger and also out-and-out striker for Ian Holloway’s side in the Championship and already has 4 assists to his name this season. A hugely talented and highly skilled youngster who has mastered all the tricks in the trade, it is a cake walk for the lad to cut through the toughest of defenses and find the back of the net. He is a dual citizen with an option of playing for both England and Ivory Coast. Although he has featured in the U-21 levels for England, time will only tell whether he will assist the Three Lions in progressing through in the big competitions or follow the path of Didier Drogba and become the most successful footballer to have ever played for the Elephants.
Offers from the big Premier League clubs have already started pouring in as the 20-year-old has shown the sparks of being one of the best in the world. He was voted the Football League’s young footballer of the year as a result of an excellent 2011-12 season which included a stand out performance against Manchester United in the league cup which eventually knocked out the Red Devils.
Trickery, creativity and pace are the main weapons that the youngster possesses in his armoury Liverpool, Man City and more top clubs have shown interest in signing the youngster. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has already set sights on bringing in the youngster to Emirates while he is not short of competition as his arch-rival Sir Alex Ferguson has also aimed to open transfer talks for signing the £20 million wonder kid from Crystal Palace during the January transfer window. “Fergie, sign him up” chants and banners are all set and ready at Old Trafford as the Scot tries to maintain his youth system intact. Both the managers give huge importance to youth players and it remains to be seen as to which would be Zaha’s next home ground.
