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UCL: Zaha called Man United spell ‘hell’, Ferguson ‘never spoke to him’
Wilfred Zaha signed for the Turkish champions this summer, leaving boyhood club Crystal Palace and bringing an end to his 11 years at the club that was split across two spells.
In between those two spells of being adored by the Selhurst Park faithful was two years at Man United.
This year marks 10 years since the Ivory Coast-born star made his £10m move to Old Trafford in the season the Red Devils won their last Premier League title.
Zaha, who had been tearing it up in the Championship with Palace in the first half of the 2012/13 season, had caught the eye of Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson, the son of Man United’s legendary boss, Sir Alex Ferguson.
It wasn’t long before Palace had agreed to sell their superstar winger, who was just 20 at the time, to the Red Devils, with Zaha returning on loan for the rest of the season to help the Eagles win promotion to the Premier League.
But the buzz of promotion and a big move to Man United soon wore off for Zaha, who had no idea Ferguson, the man who wanted him, was leaving his new club that summer.
Zaha’s future Palace boss Neil Warnock told talkSPORT Breakfast last year: “I signed him [back] when I went to Crystal Palace. He’s always loved there. I would have liked to see him go to another top club.
“When he came back to me when I re-signed him. I remember talking to him in the chairman’s office.
But the following season didn’t go as planned for him
“I said to him, ‘Did you get on alright with Sir Alex?’ He said, ‘He never spoke to me once’.
“He was only a young lad and went there and didn’t get a lot of help.”
The arrival of David Moyes spelt trouble for Zaha, too.
With minimal game time and having to live alone in Manchester, the former England youth international has since explained just how tough it was for him, even describing his situation as ‘hell’.
Speaking to Shortlist, he said: “Obviously, getting to United isn’t easy, so not being given a chance is hard to take. I don’t regret anything because it made me stronger. I feel as though I can deal with anything now.
“I went through so much with United, with England. There were rumours that the reason I wasn’t playing [many games] for United was because I slept with [then manager] David Moyes’ daughter, and no one [at the club] attempted to clear that up.
“So I was fighting my demons by myself, these rumours that I knew weren’t true. I was dealing with this at 19, living in Manchester by myself, nowhere near anyone else, because the club had a hold over where I lived.
“They hadn’t given me a car, like every other player [had]. Nothing. I’m living in this hell by myself, away from my family, and I thought, “If this doesn’t make me stronger, what will?”
Zaha was played in pre-seasons, but barely played any competitive minutes for Man United
Zaha says he was never given a chance by Ferguson’s successors
“I explain this to my friends all the time,” he continued. ” When I was at United I had [money], but I was still so down and depressed. People think your life’s different because you’ve got money, you’ve got fame, so they don’t treat you the same.”
Former Man United defender and Zaha’s ex-teammate Rio Ferdinand has also revealed since that he felt he should’ve done more and put an arm round the new arrival.
Despite wanting to return to Palace on loan, Moyes shipped Zaha to ex-Man United star Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Cardiff. But Zaha’s career didn’t improve there, either, with him recording just one assist as the Bluebirds went down bottom of the league.
By the time he returned, Moyes had been replaced by Louis van Gaal, who, after telling Zaha he would have to adapt to play as a centre forward to keep his hopes of getting in the team alive, eventually informed Zaha that he should find another club.
“I was so relieved,” Zaha told the OnTheJudy podcast in 2020. “I was thinking, ‘Thank you for telling me straight and letting me restart my career’.”
In total, the Palace legend made just four appearances for Man United, scoring no goals and registering no assists in that time.
However, his return to Palace, first on loan and then permanently, saw his career come back to life. In total, he recorded a whopping 90 goals and 76 assists in 458 appearances for his boyhood team and is very much seen as one of the club’s greatest ever players.
He’s been back to Man United 15 times since, winning four of the clashes against them. However, he insists he holds no grudges over the club, despite the struggles he faced there.
Palace more than cemented his status as a Palace legend on his return
“Obviously Manchester United’s a team that I was at before, I played for them before a long, long time ago,” Zaha said at Old Trafford. “Ten years forward, I’m 30 years old. I feel like I’ve matured in my game, I am at a big club, Galatasaray.
“I think with the help of the manager or the team we have, we have a lot of talent, a lot of experience, so, yeah, I think we’re ready for the game tomorrow.
“Obviously they’ve got a good team but at the same time we’ve got players who can hurt them as well, so me personally I’m looking forward to the game.”
Asked if what happened to him at United bothers him, Zaha said: “I’ll be honest, when you look at my face do you think I am bothered at all? No.
“Realistically I think I went through a phase where you either build from it or you die out from it. And me personally, I was never going to die out from it.
“It built my character for me to just continue my career because I was determined to not let my career die out because I went somewhere and it didn’t work out. I was just determined to reach where I wanted to reach and I am here today.”
Zaha opened his account for Galatasaray over the weekend, scoring in the 2-1 win over Ankaragucu. His goal was the epitome of what Sir Alex was likely to have been sold by all those years ago when he made Zaha his last ever signing.
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RON ON HIS WAY! Ronaldo Makes New Portgual Decision After Red Card Nightmare
Cristiano Ronaldo has LEFT the Portugal camp after his shocking red card in their defeat against Ireland.
The Portuguese icon was dismissed in his nation’s 2-0 defeat to the Republic of Ireland earlier this week.
Ronaldo was given his marching orders for an alleged elbow on Ireland defender Dara O’Shea. He was initially awarded a yellow card, only for VAR to intervene before the referee upgraded the punishment.
Ronaldo has now been handed a one-match automatic ban for the red card, which will see him miss Portugal’s clash with Armenia on Sunday. And according to reports in Portugal, he has now been released from international duty.
The 40-year-old will now return to Saudi Arabia ahead of making his return to action with club side Al-Nassr, who take on Al-Khaleej next weekend. Speaking after Ronaldo’s red card, Portugal boss Roberto Martinez said: “The red card is just a captain that has never been sent off before in 226 games – I think that just deserves credit – and today, I thought it was a bit harsh because he cares about the team.
“He was 60 minutes or 58 minutes in the box being grabbed, being pulled, being pushed and obviously when he tries to get away from the defender.
“I think the action looks worse than what it actually is, I don’t think it’s an elbow, I think it’s a full body, but from where the camera is, it looks like an elbow. But we accept it.
“The only thing that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth is at the press conference yesterday, your coach was talking about the aspect of the referees being influenced, and then a big centre-half falls on the floor so dramatically at the turn of Cristiano’s body.”
Meanwhile, Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrímsson said: “He complimented me for putting pressure on the referee. It was his action on the pitch that cost him the red card. It had nothing to do with me – unless I got into his head.”
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Oscar Health Update Emerges After Ex-Chelsea Star Collapsed
A health update has been provided on the former Chelsea midfielder, Oscar, after he collapsed and was admitted to the ICU earlier this week.
The Brazilian star fell unconscious during a training session and has remained under observation
Oscar, 34, was conducting an interval test on an exercise bike at Sao Paulo’s training ground when he fell ill. Brazilian outlet Global Esporte reported that he was unconscious for two minutes. The issue comes after Oscar suffered a fractured vertebra in August.
Since then, Oscar has made the bench twice, but it has been claimed that he has been monitoring a heart issue after he showed signs of an abnormality during tests on his fracture.
In a statement on Tuesday, Sao Paulo said Oscar ‘presented an incident with cardiological changes’ and was ‘promptly attended to by the club’s professionals and the medical team from Einstein Hospital Israelita. They have now offered another update and have confirmed a diagnosis of vasovagal syncope.
“Midfielder Oscar remains hospitalised at Einstein Hospital Israelita, where he was admitted on Tuesday afternoon (11) after presenting an incident with cardiological changes during tests carried out at SuperCT.
“An extensive investigation carried out at the hospital confirmed the diagnosis of vasovagal syncope. Oscar remains clinically well and stable, hospitalised in a cardiology unit and will undergo an electrophysiological study this Friday.”
The condition causes a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure. This can reduce blood flow to the brain and cause an individual to briefly lose consciousness. Vasovagal syncope can occur when the body overreacts to heat, hunger, or emotional distress.
Oscar returned to Sao Paulo in December on a three-year deal after beginning his career with the Brazilian side. The attacker’s reputation grew in his spell with Chelsea as he won two Premier League titles.
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Thomas Tuchel Breaks Silence On England Records
Thomas Tuchel said he has not spoken to England’s players about any potential records they could set in Albania as his only focus is on the hunger to compete and kick on towards the World Cup.
Gareth Southgate’s successor began his reign with March’s 2-0 Wembley win against Albania and ends his first year in charge against the same opponents in Tirana on Sunday.
England arrive in Albania having followed up last month’s early World Cup qualification by winning a seventh Group K match without conceding — an impressive record that opposition manager Sylvinho joked was “disgusting.”
Sunday offers them the chance to become the first European side to play at least six World Cup qualifiers and win them all without conceding, but that could not be further from Tuchel’s mind.
“We didn’t speak a single word about that,” he said at Air Albania Stadium on the eve of the game.
“We made sure yesterday that we had yesterday the training session that we had. The quality and the mentality of the guys that didn’t play was on the highest level, which was a pure pleasure.
“It just showed me that we are going in the right way.
“Everyone is ready to play, everyone is ready to start. Competition is still on, the hunger is still on to be on the pitch tomorrow. That is the most important.
“Everything we talk about is about the process and the things we can influence. We need to get the foundation right to have a chance to get these records.
“Just by thinking about it or talking about it, nothing will change.
“We need to deliver tomorrow again and, like I said, the feeling and the trust is absolutely there because I witness this in the camp so I trust my players to perform again tomorrow.”
England arrived in Albania with a 23-man squad after Ezri Konsa withdrew from the camp with a calf complaint.
That means there will be at least one change from Thursday’s 2-0 win against Serbia, when Jude Bellingham, Eberechi Eze and Phil Foden impressed off the bench.
The latter was deployed in a false nine role having replaced captain Harry Kane but Tuchel says he is unlikely to go into next summer’s World Cup with just one out-and-out striker.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said when that was mentioned. “It is possible but I don’t think that will happen. There is still a long way to go.
“We will go with a very balanced squad, I guess this as I’ve never picked a World Cup squad.
“This is something for between March and May but the general idea is to pick a balanced squad with different characters and qualities.
“I cannot rule out going with just one striker but it is very likely we will have more classic number nines.”
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