Wilfried Zaha

Dazet Wilfried Armel Zaha (born 10 November 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for the Ivory Coast national team. A product of Crystal Palace's youth academy, Zaha made his senior debut for the then Championship, now Premier League, side in 2010. He scored 18 goals in 143 appearances in just over three seasons with the club, and was instrumental in their promotion to the Premier League in 2013. He subsequently joined Manchester United for £10 million, becoming Sir Alex Ferguson's last signing for the club, and won the Community Shield on his debut. Quotes I'd never look at someone and think he's better than me, unless it's Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. Just because I don't smile a lot, people think, 'Ah, yeah. He must have a bad attitude.' But if you don't know me, you don't know me. That was the problem. My face is just serious!" The thing was, if I had a bad game, I was 'the Man United reject.' If I had a good game, it was 'Man United star on loan.' And I just thought, 'I don't need that anymore.' One minute, I was hero; the next minute, I was zero. I just didn't need it. I'd rather just play football. There are a few words you can associate with me. One of the main ones is: 'Passionate'. However I feel, I will express how I feel... What I do when I step on the pitch is try to stamp my authority on each game. The Ivory Coast had been begging for ages. The country and the fans love me already... I may not get the red carpet - it may not have the same Nike deals as when you play for England - but I'm going to be playing, I'm going to be loved, and that's all I want. I grew up two roads away from the bright lights and loud crowds of Selhurst Park, having no idea that I would be at the centre of it all one day... So I would say to my eight-year-old self, dream BIG and only you can kill your dream. Me going to a big club when I was, like, 19 or 20, I didn't know what to expect, how to behave, whatever. I was just a youngster who wanted to do tricks. I didn't even care about end product, really. External links Category:1992 births Category:Living people Category:Soccer players from England Category:Soccer players from Ivory Coast