20 Aug 2014

Price Crash: 'Exceptional' £15m attacker who rejected Dalglish can leave for £5m. Sign?

After signing for Manchester United during the January 2013 transfer window, £15m attacker Wilfried Zaha played just 107 minutes of football before being farmed out on loan to Cardiff, where he failed to score a single goal in fourteen appearances. Things didn't improve on his return to Old Trafford, and now, after falling foul of Louis Van Gaal, Zaha's career at Man Utd appears to be over. Liverpool tried to sign Zaha once in the past, so perhaps there's an opportunity here for a cut-price deal?

According to reports this week:

* Van Gaal has axed Zaha, Nani, and Anderson from the first team squad, and excluded them from all first-team activities.

* They have to train at different times, and are not allowed to mix with the first team.
* Their names have been removed from dressing room lockers.
* Van Gaal wants all three sold ASAP.

Prior to his Man United transfer, Liverpool were linked with a move for Zaha. At the time, the Daily Mail reported:

"Kenny Dalglish has contacted Dougie Freedman [about] Zaha. Dalglish asked more about the 19-year-old’s character than his footballing ability. Dalglish’s contact is a precursor to Liverpool’s attempts to lure Zaha to Merseyside".

Clearly, Zaha made the wrong decision joining Man Utd (!) Given Brendan Rodgers' confidence in Liverpool's young players, he undoubtedly would've played more football if he'd chosen Anfield instead of Old Trafford.

Last season, Dietmar Hamann warned about the dangers of overhyping Zaha, and suggested that he may struggle to fulfil his potential. He noted:

"I don't like all the hype that's already circling round the kid Zaha. Yes he has exceptional talent but that's all it is so far. Lessons seem not to have been learnt from Walcott a few years ago. The kid need protecting not hyping up.

If Zaha leaves, it seems unlikely that Man Utd will claw back the initial £15m outlay, and given his torrid time at Old Trafford, he'll probably leave on the cheap. As such, perhaps there's an opportunity here to for Liverpool to get a talented attacking player for a knock-down price?

As a comparison: Raheem Sterling - a similar player in both position and age - is thriving at Anfield, and under Rodgers, Zaha could develop in a similar way and (perhaps) achieve his undoubted potential. Plus, it would be great to steal an apparent dud player from United, and then turn him into a superstar (i.e. like Paul Pogba at Juventus)

With Man Utd reportedly willing to sell Zaha for a paltry £5m, some club out there is going to get a major bargain.

Liverpool pursued Zaha once, and it's not beyond the realm of possibility that the club might go in for him again.

Author:


23 comments:

  1. Nevergonnacrackthecode1:36 am, August 20, 2014

    zaha is a show pony overrated
    comparing him to sterling is like comparing hesky to ronaldo

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  2. colonel cocknocker1:47 am, August 20, 2014

    prob worth a punt for 5 mil certainly. But i can't see them ever selling him to us...

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  3. Utd to/from Liverpool transfers just don't happen.

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  4. What are you smoking over there Jamie.

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  5. Yeah - It's one of those issues I think fans of both clubs feel the same way about.

    That said, if Liverpool really wanted to give Zaha a run, even as a United fan, I think I'd be happy for the kid to have had something work out at another top club anyway.

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  6. Did Rodgers really chase Zaha? The information above indicates it was Dalglish who made the enquiry. When was Rodgers interested?


    Interesting to note the long term failure of Nani and Anderson. They were big money transfers back in the day but they haven't really progressed into proper United players. At the time it was a big investment into some unproven but clearly talented youth. Rodgers is going down a similar road at the moment with some of the young players he's spent money on. Here's to hoping our expensive gambles don't end up on the rubbish tip.


    Van Gaal is sending some clear signals, he's not mucking about. It's an admirable show of strength but it ultimately means nothing if he can't get the right replacement players in the squad and then have them working together. United need quite a few more players inbound, players that Van Gaal actually wants in the side, before they can be taken seriously. I don't see it happening this year. They might have a good run in 2015 but if they're already 20 points behind it won't be enough. He's obviously a good manager but he's had difficult seasons before with big clubs and there are no guarantees. The Premier League is the toughest in the world in terms of having to play well every week no matter who you are up against. I don't see United as being a threat to anyone this season.

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  7. Is he a better prospect than what we already have? I'd rather give Suso, Teixeira, Ibe and the likes more game time before we go for Zaha. They'd never sell him to us, so it is a moot point.


    Also Pogba was never really considered a dud, Fergie just fannied around with his contract because he didn't want the lad to get too big for his boots. Obviously it backfired, but he was always rated.

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  8. Welbeck better. :)

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  9. And that about says it all...neither one should come to LFC. How is Zaha demonstrably better than Borini? He's not.

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  10. Ibe has been loaned to Bolton...or so the Mirror says.

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  11. For 5m, we can sign Depay who is 3 times the player Zaha is, not that we need him anyways. We have our fair share of youngsters now. We just need to make a star signing like Reus and replace Lucas with Song. Done

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  12. You mouth-breathers have to mention United at every opportunity. At what point does the obsession end? Don't even try to deny it, this is the third article of the day about a club that isn't your own. United have spent more paying interest payments than LFC are worth. You're a small club, you have limited fans, limited economics, and limited potential.

    United and Liverpool are incomparable, like ''comparing hesky to ronaldo'' to borrow an example.Liverpool are worth: 456 Million and United are worth 1852 Million. What comeback is there to that? None. It's cold, hard facts. You like to think you're a rival. However, in reality you're more a rival of Stoke, than you are a rival of United.

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  13. Normally you would shoved us some stats to justify buying a player. I don't see one here on Zaha.

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  14. Spot on Puk.......

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  15. Veer hat hit the nail on the head; why Zaha when we have Kids like Suso, Ibe and Texeira.........

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  16. Wonder what is wrong with the lad, looked decent everytime he played. First Moyes and then Van Gal, something is fishy about Zaha that no one likes him.

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  17. I think Fergie did right and Rodgers should do the same with youngsters at Liverpool. Only Sterling deserves a huge contract at the moment and we should wait for another season before deciding on Coutinho's contract.

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  18. The difference between gambler BR and gambler SAF is that SAF won loads of trophies and no one cares about his failure in transfer market. BR is under scrutiny but I am sure that if he wins trophies in couple of years, people will forgive his transfer mistakes. No manager in the world is perfect.

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  19. I think fans are the biggest reason. Imagine what trauma a player would go through if he goes from one club to another.

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  20. Heskey gave his all in a red shirt. The guy may not of been a world beater but I appreciate players that make an effort and he contributed a lot over the years and won a few medals.

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  21. That's a shame in one respect because I really wanted to see him in an LFC shirt this season especially with the amount games we've got.

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  22. no more southcoast geeezers7:16 am, August 20, 2014

    noooo bony and alex song

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