The teenager was a menace throughout in a 3-1 win, his performance crowned 10 minutes from time when he skipped through five Brighton players and fired a shot back across Casper Ankergren to equalise. “We were all gobsmacked by this kid’s raw talent.”īrighton had not lost a league game at their sparkling new Amex stadium but Palace, inspired by Zaha, put paid to that in the autumn of 2011. A standing ovation greeted the wide-eyed youngster, his wiry frame lost in oversized kit, as he was replaced 13 minutes from time. “He was like a whirlwind, a joy to play with,” said Lee. Just 18 minutes in, Zaha collected Alan Lee’s flick and instinctively lifted the ball with the outside of his boot over the onrushing Chris Weale to thrust the home side ahead.
The scene is set for a brave new era to be sparked by a talent fresh from the club’s academy. Palace, hoisted from administration, are under new ownership and Zaha is a surprise name in George Burley’s line-up against Leicester City on the opening day of the season. “But he did brilliantly in a very pressurised situation where we were fighting for our lives.
“It was the first time I’d seen him play,” admitted Hart. Zaha, the heir apparent to the departed Victor Moses, was fearless. The decision to throw on a 17-year-old rookie from the bench was as much about raising the collective mood as restoring parity. Now high-flying Cardiff City were winning 2-1 at Selhurst Park with 10 minutes to play. His short-term replacement, Paul Hart, watched a shell of a side limp through five games without a win. The club had been docked 10 points after falling into administration, seen star players sold and watched Neil Warnock and his staff abdicate en masse to Queens Park Rangers. “He was unplayable and desperate to win.” Within a month, Zaha made his first-team bow. “He was outstanding and a constant threat with his pace and directness,” said Greg McDermott, one of the opposition players that day. He got on with things but, if he thought somebody was going over the top, he would have a go back and tell them it wasn’t right.” Two: learn to move the ball quicker so you don’t get caught in a confrontation - but also, you absolutely do not behave like that in my training session. I had to tell him, one: if you don’t want to be tackled, go and play a non-contact sport. “He was absolutely furious and squared up. “Someone went through him really hard in a small-sided game,” Omogbehin told The Athletic. Determined, tenacious and at times temperamental, the 11-year-old made quite an impression on his youth-team coach Colin Omogbehin. There has always been a sense of injustice simmering in Zaha. Here, as uncertainty swirls around his future beyond the expiry of his contract next summer, The Athletic looks back at the 30 moments that helped make Zaha the player he is today - a forward as captivating to watch now as he ever was. He has worked under 10 permanent Palace managers, scoring 89 goals and setting up countless more en route, and left a trail of woozy defenders in his wake. He has represented England while featuring in the Championship, and flourished with the Ivory Coast, the country of his birth. He has been on a remarkable journey, from propelling Palace into the top division to becoming Sir Alex Ferguson’s last signing for Manchester United. It is still hard to compute that he is 30. And, as a figure who grew up a stone’s throw from Selhurst Park, he is an inspiration for a new generation of lavishly talented footballers shaped on the streets and in cages of south London. A leader of men at an established top-flight club and the focal point for his team.
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