Wilfred Zaha Biography, Early Career, Personal Life and Honours

Wilfred Zaha Biography, Early Career, Club Career, Personal Life and Honours

STAGE NAME: Dazet Wilfried Armel Zaha

FULL NAME: Wilfried Zaha

OCCUPATION: Footballer

DATE OF BIRTH: 10 November 1992

PLACE OF BIRTH: Abidjan, Ivory Coast

NATIONALITY: Ivorian

Wilfried Dazet Zaha is a professional football player for Galatasaray in the Super Lig and for the Ivory Coast national team. He can play as a left winger or a forward.

In 2010, Zaha moved up from Crystal Palace’s youth team to play for the first team. He scored 18 goals in all competitions in his first three full seasons at Selhurst Park.

He was sold to Manchester United in January 2013 for a record £10 million, making him the most expensive Crystal Palace player ever sold. Zaha stayed with Palace on loan until the end of the season, which helped them get back to the Premier League. After a bad season with Manchester United in 2013–14, most of which he spent on loan at Cardiff City, Zaha returned to Crystal Palace in August 2014 for the rest of the season on loan.

In February 2015, he made the move permanent. He played for the club for eight more years and scored a total of 108 goals, ranking him as their tenth-best player of all time. In 2023, he moved to Galatasaray.

Zarah was born in the Ivory Coast but moved to England when she was four years old. His first game for the England national team was in 2012, and he played in two friendly games, the most recent of which was in 2013.

He moved teams and played for Ivory Coast before the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. This was after not playing for England any longer for four years.

EARLY LIFE

He was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Zaha moved to Thornton Heath in the London Borough of Croydon with his family when he was four years old. He has eight brothers Whitehorse Manor Junior School in Thornton Heath and Selsdon High School in Selsdon are where he went to school.

He played football in school and joined the Crystal Palace club when he was eight years old.

CLUB CAREER

Crystal Palace

Zaha played his first game for Crystal Palace against Cardiff City at home on March 27, 2010, when he came on as a replacement for Stern John with 10 minutes left in a 2–1 loss.

In April, he made a deal with Palace to play professionally for two years.

He moved up quickly at Palace and was an important part of the first team during the pre-season matches in 2010–11.

He got his first goal for the club in a 3–2 win over Leicester City on August 7, 2010.In October, Zaha set up a goal for Kieron Cadogan at home against Queens Park Rangers. In February 2011, he helped James Vaughan score against Watford away.

The first time he was sent off was in the 95th minute against Leicester City for what was thought to be a stamp on Patrick van Aanholt. However, the punishment was later overturned. At the end of the season, Zaha had played 44 games, scored one goal, and set up two others across all categories.

Manchester United

Zaha agreed to join Premier League team Manchester United on January 25, 2013, but he would be moved back to Crystal Palace right away for the rest of the season.

Palace wanted to agree to the move in the summer of 2013, but Football League rules said they couldn’t. Instead, the player had to join United on loan and then come back to Palace on loan.

Zaha passed the medical at Manchester United and signed a five-and-a-half-year deal on January 26, 2013, worth an estimated £10 million, with performance-related add-ons raising the price to £15 million.

Zaha’s first game for Manchester United was in the 2013 FA Community Shield, which they played against Wigan Athletic on August 11, 2013.

He was put in the starting lineup and played for 61 minutes before Antonio Valencia came on to replace him. It was his first big football award.

On October 29, he started in a 4–0 win over Norwich City at Old Trafford in the third round of the League Cup. That was the last time he played.

His first game in the Premier League was on December 7 against Newcastle United at home, in a 1-0 loss. He came on as a replacement for Nani soon after his team gave up a goal.

After being dropped by boss David Moyes, Zaha moved on loan to Cardiff City on January 31, 2014, for the rest of the 2013–14 season.

After Moyes was fired at the end of the season, Zaha said that the Scot never gave him a chance. He compared his time with that of Raheem Sterling, another young shooter who had a rough start but was given a chance by Liverpool. Also, he said that the bad online rumours about his personal life were making him angry.

Return to Crystal Palace

Zaha agreed to a loan deal with Crystal Palace for the season on August 28, 2014.The next day, in his first game back on loan, he scored in extra time to tie a 3–3 game at Newcastle United.

Zaha officially moved to Crystal Palace on February 2, 2015, the last day of the winter transfer window. He signed a five-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee, which was thought to be around £3 million and could go up to £6 million with add-ons. Manchester United would also get a cut of the fee if Palace ever sold Zaha.

United would not get this sell-on fee because Zaha will join Galatasaray for free in 2023.

Zaha played a lot for Crystal Palace all season. He ended the season with four goals and two assists, helping Crystal Palace finish in 10th place in the league.

Galatasaray

Galatasaray, a team in the Super Lig, said on July 23, 2023, that Zaha had arrived in Istanbul to finish his move to Turkey. The next day, he signed a three-year deal with the club, which said he would get €2.35m as a signing-on fee and €4.35m a year in pay.

On August 12, he played his first game in the Süper Lig against Kayserispor. He played in his first Champions League group stage game on September 20 and set up Tetê’s goal in a 2–2 home tie against Copenhagen. On October 3, he scored his first Champions League goal in Galatasaray’s 3–2 win at Old Trafford over his old team, Manchester United. It was his first start in the tournament.

International Career

Zaha could play for both his home country of Ivory Coast and the country where he grew up, England.

England from 2011 to 2013

Because he did so well in his first full season, he was called up to the England under-19 team for their game against Germany in February 2011. On February 23, 2012, he was called up to the under-21 team.

He played his first game on February 29 in a 4–0 win over Belgium. He helped Henri Lansbury score the third goal. Azah was called up to the senior team by boss Roy Hodgson on November 11, 2012, for a friendly match against Sweden on November 14, 2012. When Raheem Sterling came on for his first game, he came on as a replacement in the 83rd minute.

Before the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Zaha was playing well for Crystal Palace under Hodgson. The manager said he felt bad that he hadn’t played the winger in a meaningful game to tie him to England.

The Ivorian Football Federation announced on November 27, 2016, that Zaha had written to FIFA to change his international football team from England to the Ivory Coast.

After hearing about this, England boss Gareth Southgate said he would try to keep Zaha from switching teams because of how well he has been playing for his current team.

He was put on the Ivory Coast team for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in January. He played his first game against Sweden in a friendly in Abu Dhabi on January 8. He came on as a replacement at halftime and helped set up Giovanni Sio’s goal in a 2–1 win.

After three days, he played his first game for his country against Uganda at the same place and scored his first goal in a 3–0 win. The defending champion Elephants were knocked out in the group stage of the event in Gabon. Zaha started all three games.

He was also picked to play in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt. At the event, he scored two goals. One was in a 4–1 win over Namibia in the last game of the group, and the other was the only goal in the last 16 match against Mali. Algeria beat the Elephants on penalties in the quarterfinals and went on to win the tournament.

Personal Life

It was in July 2023 that Zaha married Paige Bannister.

Honours

Crystal Palace

Football League Championship play-offs: 2013
FA Cup runner-up: 2015–16

Manchester United

FA Community Shield: 2013

Individual

Football League Young Player of the Month: October 2012
Football League Young Player of the Year: 2013
PFA Team of the Year: 2012–13 Championship
Crystal Palace Player of the Year: 2015–16, 2016–17,2017–18
Premier League Player of the Month: April 2018
Premier League Goal of the Month: February 2022

Net Worth

It is thought that Wilfried Zaha is worth more than $47 Million. All of his money comes from his job as a football player. Besides that, he makes $7.5 Million a year. It is said that he is one of the most famous and great football players in the world.