Manchester United Angle – What Next For Wilf?

Crystal Palace will be playing Premier League football next season after a 1-0 win in The Championship Play-Off Final against Watford. One of the major talking points from the big day was the performance and the future of England International winger Wilfried Zaha.
We all know that Zaha agreed a £15m deal to sign with Manchester United back in January whilst agreeing to stay at Palace for the remainder of this season on loan. Now that the season has finished and Zaha has helped Palace achieve promotion to the Premier League, what can we expect to see from the 20 year old next season?
While cameras at Wembley managed to catch sight of various well known faces sitting in the crowd such as Elton John and Jose Mourinho, there was no sign of new Manchester United manager David Moyes, but he was surely watching from somewhere so that he could keep an eye on the man who will be joining up with him when he starts his new job officially in just over a month’s time. With no shortage of talent already at his disposal and Zaha now coming in to add to it, what will Moyes look to get out of Sir Alex Ferguson’s last ever signing next season?
There are several things that Moyes will have to consider during pre-season with regards to his new man coming in. The first is whether or not he thinks he is ready for first team football straight away or if he feels that he needs to continue developing as a player first, whether that be in the Under 21 side or on loan at another club. Not forgetting that the World Cup is only a year away and should England qualify, Zaha will surely want to be part of the squad that travels to Brazil next summer, but he’ll only be able to do that if he’s played enough football next season and put in good performances on a regular basis. His new manager will obviously have a big say on whether or not Zaha is in with a chance of making the 23 man squad next May.
Should Zaha stay at Manchester United and Moyes decides to put him in the first team immediately, it could well mark the end of another winger’s career at Old Trafford. 3 candidates already spring to mind who could potentially find themselves looking for a new club in the very near future. Nani and Ashley Young have had very quiet seasons compared to previous ones and while Antonio Valencia played a lot of games this campaign, he even admitted himself that he could have performed a lot better in many of the games he played a part in. All 3 are currently in their mid to late 20’s but Moyes may just feel that at least 1 has to go just to give the younger players a chance to build a great reputation at an early age. Another thing to take into account is the possibility of Moyes signing another winger for the club that both increases the chances of a player being sold bur also potentially decreases the chances of Zaha getting playing time in the first team.
Alternatively, Moyes may well like the look of Zaha but doesn’t think he can play him in the first team just yet. Therefore he will either spend the majority of the season playing with the likes of Larnell Cole and Nick Powell in the Under 21’s side or he will get the opportunity to go out on loan again, with a team in the Premier League being the most likely destination for him. If he is made available for loan, you do have to feel that Crystal Palace would certainly be favourites to take him back. The player spent his entire youth career at Palace before making the step up to senior level in 2010 and already on a number of occasions has thanked the club and expressed his love and best wishes for them. Surely if the opportunity arises to go back for a bit comes along he will almost certainly take it if he feels it will be a beneficial move football wise and it helps keep Palace in the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Regardless of what David Moyes decision will be with regards to how the player features in the next campaign, at only 20 years of age, Zaha is surely destined for greater successes even if they don’t come straight away. For now at least, he can enjoy the amazing feeling that comes with winning promotion before he heads off to Israel with the England Under-21 Squad for the European Championships where hopefully he and the rest of the team will have a successful and productive tournament before heading back to begin pre-season training with his new club. Then we will probably get a better idea of what might be in store for the promising youngster next season.
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