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Wilfred Zaha in line for Premier League debut

By on October 28, 2013
Wilfred Zaha could start in Manchester United's league cup against Norwich City

Wilfred Zaha could start in Manchester United’s league cup against Norwich City

Wilfred Zaha could make his first competitive appearance for Manchester United against Norwich City despite failing to play in a league fixture for David Moyes’ side since joining the club in January for £15m.  The winger was Sir Alex Ferguson’s last signing at Manchester United and made his England debut just four days past his 20th birthday, yet the starlet has failed to impress Moyes.

Although the Ivory Coast born English international showed off his talent during United’s pre-season tour of Southeast Asia and was expected to break into the first team ahead of either Ashley Young, Nani, or Antonio Valencia but has only featured in United’s 2-0 Community Shield win over Wigan Athletic so far this season.  Zaha has been an unused substitute in four of United’s Premier League outings, and could earn his first competitive start against Norwich City in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday according to Moyes, who claimed he was considering send the 20-year-old out on loan in January if he remains behind Valencia, Nani, Young, and Adnan Januzaj in the United pecking order.

“I just don’t think we have had the right opportunity to get him on as much as we would have liked,” Moyes said. “We don’t want to put him in too quickly. We want to make it the right time. I’ve said I would look at it in January as I wanted to have him here for six months to see how we work. I told him we would try to get him minutes but the competition in the wide areas we have with Nani, Antonio Valencia, Ashley Young, Adnan Januzaj and even Shinji Kagawa playing off the side means we are as strong there as anywhere.

“It’s not that Wilf has done anything wrong, it’s just that we have big competition and we have to try to make sure he gets some playing time. Unfortunately, we haven’t done that with Wilf and if it’s still the case in January, we would look at it. But he is very much in my plans and in my thoughts all the time.”

Moyes’ failure to find Zaha any playing time has lead to rumors of a bust-up between the player and manager, but it is more likely that Zaha has just been left out because of poor form or failure to find good form.  Yet the starlet still has lots of time to have a breakthrough like that of 18-year-old United winger Adnan Januzaj, who scored two goals on his senior debut for the club and earned a starting spot, and a loan spell could give the former Crystal Palace player the experience he needs to thrive at the top of the Premier League.

This is certainly the approach George Burley, who awarded Zaha a spot in the Crystal Palace squad when the winger was still a teenager, would take, with the former Palace manager also saying that a loan spell would help Zaha.

Burley said: “I felt Gareth Bale needed another year before he went to Tottenham but he went and the first six months, he struggled. And Gareth was more advanced than Wilfried at that period. I think it would do him the world of good for him to go on loan for six months or a year and he’ll come back with more confidence, a better player. Look at Andros Townsend, who went to Queens Park Rangers last year and was terrific.”

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.