18 May 2014

You've Failed: Ex-Red insists £15m Man Utd flop who rejected LFC is 'in decline'

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. Once tipped for a place in Roy Hodgson's world cup squad (!) Zaha is clearly struggling to live up to his early promise, and former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore believes his development is stalling.

In a recent column for the Bleacher Report, Collymore selected Zaha as one of the Premier League's biggest flops of the season. He scathed:

"Wilfried Zaha arrived at Cardiff from Manchester United, and we expected big things, but if he's not careful, he'll be the next Emmanuel Frimpong, with a million followers on social media, but a game in decline. Zaha needs to get back to basics".

It's not as if Moyes was reluctant to give youngsters a chance; Adnan Januzaj - who is three years younger than Zaha - made lots appearances for Man United last season, and it must be galling for Zaha to see a younger player than him regularly getting first-team action.

Prior to the 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".

Liverpool legend Dietmar Hamann is not entirely convinced about Zaha's talent, and last year, the German suggested that the winger is a little overrated. He explained:

"I don't like all the hype that's already circling round the kid Zaha. Yes he is exceptionally talented 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.

Zaha seems to believe his own hype too. In an interview with The Guardian last season, he explained:

"I want to come up against defenders who will properly test me. I'd never look at someone and think he's better than me, unless it's Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. When I get on the pitch it's my time".

Clearly, Zaha - once hailed by Rio Ferdinand as a 'fantastic' talent' - 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.

Raheem Sterling is a prime example of the level Zaha should be achieving, and his reward for such massive progress is a place in England's world cup squad.

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14 comments:

  1. Stan Collymore apparently cares about Zaha, and he just so happens to be an Ex-Red...

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  2. if i be honest i dont really like Borini's style of play and although he did decent at Sunderland i dont think hes a player that will take LFC forward. a better option for me would be Ciro Immobile from Torino. different situation to Borini. he is already the Serie A top goalscorer, and by doing at Torino is even more astonishing. 23 goals in 33 games is good and being the same age as Borini maybe we could offer Borini and £10M? Immobile plays like Aguero and hes going to light up the World Cup for Italy.


    Emre Can looks a very good player and he looks to be Lucas replacement. £10M and get £8-15M from bidding teams on Lucas. Emre Can is only 20 and will develop well under Rodgers and hes also a Rodgers style player.


    Alexis Sanchez would be a class signing and apparently BR desperately wants him and is lining up a £20M bid. he wants to leave despite having a wonderful season for both Barcelona and Chile and he would definately make us stronger contenders for both the CL and the PL. BR wants two absolutely explosive world class signings and Sanchez can be 1. 25 goals/19 assists in 60 games in all competitions.


    Marcos Reus £30M release clause? what are we waiting for. we want to be top of the football world we need to buy the best players. and if we had Marcos Reus, Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge, Luis Suarez and Alexis Sanchez, those are extremely deadly attacking otpions. the best, can match up with any team. Marcos Reus is clearly the type of player were looking for. experienced playing across a season of league football, champions league and cup matches, with consistent performances. international experience, world class, quick, clinical and still not at his peak. 23 goals/ 23 assists in 47 games is very much worth £30M. and if he helped Dortmund to the final and semi-final 2 years in a row surely he can do it for LFC with Suarez and Sturridge? Marcos Reus can be the second world class player. having Sanchez and Reus on either wing is guarenteed goals and assists.


    Ryan Bertrand will be a good signing at Left Back as back up for Enrique and let Flannagan go Right Back with GJ as back-up. for around £7-10M as well for a skillful, quick, english left back. it will help keep the english core in our team and hes yet to reach his peak.


    Tiago Ilori will definately be a first team starter next season, he has been performing consistently in La Liga with alot of man-of-the-match performances and hes the quick big strong defender we need to partner Skrtel if Agger is not fit.


    Adam Lallana should be the final signing. and then our squad will look like a Champions League Squad. he will go and do well for England along with the other Liverpool players and he will be class if he came to Liverpool as well. he will develop even better whilst also playing with LFC players. i think £20M is alot if thats what Barcelona want for Sanchez but hes a very good player and knows how to put in man of the match performances in Premier League games. he will help LFC lift the the title. so we should sign him. with Lallana, having Henderson means we will not need Allen. offer him as part of Lallana deal.


    Ciro Immobile (24) ST - Fabio Borni + £10M
    Alexis Sanchez (25) RW - £22M
    Marcos Reus (24) LW - £30M
    Emre Can (20) DM - £10M
    Adam Lallana (25) CM - £10M + Joe Allen
    Ryan Bertrand (24) LB - £8M
    Tiago Ilori (21) CB - Signed


    Total: £100M


    sell
    Iago Aspas - £8M, Conor Coady - £2M, Assaidi - £5M, Reina - £5M Lucas - £12M


    Total: £32M


    -------------------------------Mingolet
    Flannagan----------Skrtel-------------Agger--------Bertrand
    ----------------------------Gerrard/Can
    ----Sanchez------------------------------------------Reus
    --------------------Suarez---------Sturridge

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  3. Why does this remind me so much of something we will see from Twistadee?

    Ciro Immobile, Alexis Sanchez, Marcos Reus, Adam Lallana...


    Now please explain to me where Rodgers fits the players we already have - Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling and Coutinho into the above picture?

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  4. The formation you post would be suicide. Essentially 4 forwards, and 2 attacking full backs with no midfield presence to be seen. And if none of the signings you suggest would like to play the bench. Why would Bertrand go to Liverpool to challenge Enrique when he would start for sure for Villa? Why would Sterling want to stick around to sit after having a stellar season? Why would Immobile go from being a Serie A star to an EPL bench warmer? Seriously... I would take 1 of those stars, but not like 4 of them.

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  5. It's obvious he done us a FAVOUR BY TURNING US DOWN!! Just who at Liverpool wants to sign this Dross. Now we're allegedly looking to sign a never heard of Emre Can for such a massive job as Defensive Midfielder! Is that really the best we can do? The height of our ambitions? I'd so. We are Fkd!

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  6. He has not signed for us yet and it so all it is for now is a rumour. Relax :-)

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  7. And what's your point? Zaha is of no importance to LFC. If stan doggymore wants to show an interest,thats up to him, I only concern myself with the affairs of LFC.

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  8. I rate Zaha's potential very highly having watched him live many times, but I guess the point is he went to the wrong club to develop it. In fairness that would have been far less obvious 18 months ago when Fergie signed him. I would like to see him under BR's wing, because he has so much natural talent - it just needs to be nurtured the right way...

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  9. And yet you call yourself 'realist'!! Oh the irony!

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  10. Plus its a 10-man team!

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  11. I watched a lot of Zaha when he was at Palace and at the time when he signed for Utd I remember thinking what a waste of money.

    Tom Ince is a better player then Zaha however he has the same problem, they both think they are better then they actually are.

    Both may have bags of potential, although Ince does have more to his game, but until they stop thinking they are the best thing since sliced bread they will never reach that potential.

    Once again the press hype up young English players to the point where the players believe in their hype, stop trying and just expect to walk into any team.


    At this point the same thing always happens.. they crash and burn.

    Same thing happened to Stirling however we are very lucky that BR did a tremendous in giving him time and space and then slowly reintroducing him back into team and he is now playing better then ever.

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  12. Liverpool are the future where as Man Utd are the past. Van Gaal will need many years to make them any good again even if he does spend £200 million on new signings. Alex Ferguson knew what he was doing when quitting a sinking ship.

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  13. Hahaha! Fair play. That's true.

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  14. If we cant attract a bit more quality after the season we just had, then when?

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