Zaha is set to join Galatasaray after leaving Crystal Palace
The peak of Wilfried Zaha’s affinity with Crystal Palace, the days when he became inextricably woven into the club’s history, surely came in 2018.
That season may not have been when Zaha played his best, but it was when we saw his impact most easily. That year, you gave up looking for when Palace ended and Zaha started because of the futility of the exercise. He was them and they were him.
In 2017-18, Zaha was Palace’s top scorer from open play. He took shots more often than any teammate, created more chances more often and completed dribbles more often too. Palace played 10 matches without Zaha starting in the Premier League and they lost every single one; they didn’t even score in the first six.
With eight league games to go, Palace were in the bottom three. Cue Zaha recovering from injury, scoring five goals, Palace winning five of those eight and finishing 11th. That was Roy Hodgson’s first season. It could have all been so different without Wilf.
If Zaha’s dominance on the pitch has waned a little over the last two seasons (and that itself is debatable), it is a compliment to the young attacking midfielders that Palace have bought and developed.
But do not consider it a coincidence that Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise are both in the Zaha mould, flourishing and attracting interest from the biggest clubs in the land. Both were mentored and guided by Zaha’s precedent.
The rise of that pair, two ambitious, confident, forward-thinking footballers, created a justification for Zaha to leave Selhurst Park. But still, they desperately wanted him to stay.
For now, that dust is getting in everybody’s eyes. That offer wasn’t made through logic, but love and loyalty. The last time a Crystal Palace side without Wilfried Zaha existed was May 2014. Ever since, Zaha has been their reference point, their normality, their everything. He wasn’t always consistent and there were entire seasons when he struggled to carry a team on his back but, like in 2018, the sense of timing never left.
Some of the hurt, much of which may drift into bitterness as a means of emotional self-preservation, is because Zaha’s presence in Croydon felt permanent. He was – even if on some nonsensical and intangible level – theirs.
He grew up with 10 other family members in a three bedroom home on Rothesay Road, where Selhurst’s floodlights poked above the roofs of the terraced houses. He attended Whitehorse Manor Junior School, two minutes’ walk from the stadium. By the time he was eight, Palace knew of his talent and by 12 he had signed.
Former Palace manager Dougie Freedman tells a story of Zaha and his family. Freedman walked a short distance from Selhurst to the family home with a first professional contract in hand for Wilfried to sign and was welcomed by father, brother and nephews. With seven people squeezed into a tiny room, neither Wilf nor any family member looked at the contract before signing it. He just wanted to play for Crystal Palace. That was all that mattered.
Maybe that changed a little somewhere down the line. If there was some simmering, unrequited ambition, it is understandable. Zaha joined Manchester United at the age of 20 and was given 28 minutes of league football before being loaned and then sold.
He knows that he was good enough to make it bigger, but he made peace because he was making a difference to his club. He is still making a difference, but there are others who can step into the breach.
