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On Tuesday night, Zaha returned to Old Trafford as a Galatasaray player to pile misery on Manchester United.
Former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has hinted at the reason he let Wilfried Zaha depart on a permanent basis after his nightmare spell at Old Trafford.
On Tuesday night, Zaha returned to Old Trafford as a Galatasaray player to pile misery on the club he was supposed to have made his Champions League debut with 10 years ago, as the 20-time league champions were beaten in their second consecutive group stage match.
Zaha was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson in January 2013 before returning to Crystal Palace on a six-month loan deal and was expecting to play for the Scotsman.
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However, Ferguson retired that summer before the club appointed David Moyes. Moyes watched Zaha for an hour in the Community Shield against Wigan Athletic and, unimpressed, removed him from the team.
Zaha did not play for United again after that early August afternoon at Wembley until a Carabao Cup tie against Norwich City. His only two Premier League appearances for United came as a substitute on successive weekends in December 2014, totalling 28 minutes. He and Moyes barely spoke.
After failing to make an appearance, he was made available for loan in 2014.
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The then-21-year-old was loaned to struggling Cardiff City, where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had just begun his first stab at Premier League management.
Cardiff were bottom of the table when he joined and ended up relegated in the same position. Zaha did not really want to be at the Welsh club and attributes his lackluster performances (no goals and one assist in 13 appearances, including five league starts) to feeling “shattered” and “a shadow of myself”.
By the time he returned to Old Trafford that summer, Moyes had been sacked and Louis van Gaal was the manager.
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Once more, though, Zaha was little more than an afterthought, marginalised to the point he decided to stay in a hotel rather than rent a house again. It turned out to be a wise move.
He did play in a couple of summer friendlies but his new boss had other plans.
Speaking to The Athletic, Van Gaal hinted the reason why the Ivorian had to be let go after failing to make the cut initially under Moyes and then the Dutch coach.
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“It is nine years ago, it is difficult to remember what I have thought about Wilfried,” Van Gaal said. “I think you have to ask him because he will know for sure what I have said to him.”
“The left (sided) position was fully occupied with (new signing Angel) Di Maria and Ashley Young. The next season I bought (Anthony) Martial for this position. So he (Zaha) must compete with Di Maria and Young and later Martial and that was too much for him at that age. Therefore, I thought about a change of position for him.”
Van Gaal favoured a 3-5-2 system that did not use orthodox wingers. So he told the player there was no option but to learn a new role, either wing-back or, more likely, centre-forward, something the player says “set him up to fail”.
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United had Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney and summer signing Radamel Falcao in those positions, which made it difficult for Zaha to get a position to grow into.
His first game (and United’s third) of a pre-season tour of the U.S. pitted him against Inter Milan, as a second-half substitute, when the experimental striker was marked by the imposing figure of former United hero Nemanja Vidic.
In the tour’s next game against Real Madrid four days later, Zaha, on as a substitute again albeit slightly earlier, was faced by Pepe and Sergio Ramos, two of the sport’s elite centre-backs.
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Back in Manchester, Van Gaal told him before one training session it was his final chance to impress. Zaha thought he had been training well and remembers Rooney, among others, saying the same. Van Gaal disagreed and, at the end of that session, the player was informed 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’.”
Zaha has since gone on to relaunch his career at Crystal Palace and then Galatasaray, with who he helped get a win over United on Wednesday night.
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