Zaha’s United spell factor in Palace form claims Pardew

Wilfried Zaha’s disastrous spell at Manchester United was a necessary part of the journey to create the player he is today, according to Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew.

The winger currently has three goals and tops the Eagle’s assist charts with six so far this season.

Pardew denies that the 24-year-old has changed his game dramatically to achieve the impressive stats, instead putting the improvement down to natural development.

“I hear a lot of people criticised him for his lack of assists, lack of goals, but the solution laid on the training ground, in himself and in my coaches, my training team – myself, Kevin Keen, Keith Millen – [we kept] grinding on him about his finishing and his end product and it’s now becoming a feature of his game,” Pardew explained.

(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“Now everybody’s assuming that he’s changed, but he hasn’t changed, sometimes it’s age, it’s experience.

“The experience of going to Man United and it not working out, then coming here and re-working his game. It’s all part of growing up.”

Zaha has made two appearances for England but as both came in friendly fixtures, the winger is thought to be interested in a switch to the country of his birth, Ivory Coast.

And Pardew added that the Gareth Southgate’s team would be missing a trick if he was allowed to switch allegiances in his current form.

“The form he’s in now, England are making a big mistake letting him slip through the net, they really are,” he said.