Crystal Palace

Will Manchester United’s latest signing be a hit?

Manchester United have unflinchingly prided themselves on wing play down the years and they show no sign of changing their shape next season. Accordingly they spent £15m in the winter window on an uncut diamond with potential.

Noone really knows for sure how this particular youngster will adapt to The Premier League. He’s spent the last couple years making fools out of Championship defenders but, as we all know, the cavity between the second and first tier of English football is huge. Next season Wilfried Zaha will rarely face a full-back who isn’t an international for his country and he will quickly find that the time and space he has been afforded hitherto will be severely restricted in his new surroundings.

Zaha is a player who loves to express himself on the ball. He is full of tricks and flicks and could just be the perfect entertainer for Manchester United fans, who have been spoilt by flair players over the last 20 years. But, as we know, flair alone doesn’t pay the bills. Footballers like Eric Cantona and (eventually) Cristiano Ronaldo managed to find a perfect balance between flair and final ball – they were aesthetes with a cause. But others have been less successful. After half a decade at the club, the jury is somehow still out on Nani, for example. He hasn’t quite made the leap from precocious prodigy to seasoned superstar. He remains a talented yet inconsistent enigma.

So now it’s down to Sir Alex Ferguson to mould his new jewel in the right manner. £15m is not a small amount to spend in any context, so the boss must really like this one. In a game that is becoming ever more driven by efficiency and athleticism he has identified rare, artful qualities in Zaha. Fergie will want to encourage efficiency in the player without suffocating the extravagant range of skills that could so delight the Manchester United faithful.

At the end of the day it’s all about whether Zaha has an acute ‘football brain’. Physically he’s there – he has real strength and genuine pace – vital components of top footballers. But he does tend to over-elaborate at times and can get a bit tongue tied, sometimes out-foxing himself. The job for the coaching staff at Manchester United is to hone the player’s decision-making ability. Tricks are great if they are benefitting the team and helping to bring the right results.

Zaha clearly loves the game and looks as if he has a decent temperament. With the other wingers at Manchester United having indifferent spells for the club, Zaha has a chance to cement a place in the team straight away. It will be extremely interesting to see if Manchester United can develop Zaha into a true, continental-style wing genius or whether his time at Old Trafford will be punctuated by one trick too many.

Do you think that Zaha will become a match-winner or expensive luxury at Old Trafford?

Follow us on Twitter @soccersweep10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6APLvw05_I

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. harisu idris

    May 29, 2013 at 10:53 pm

    We actually the performance of new corch for man u

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Soccersweep is a site dedicated to the beautiful game. We may not always be right, but we aim to offer integrity and insight, reflecting on the modern game in all its glory, greed and grandeur.

92 Languages!

Contact

Copyright © 2016 Soccersweep. Soccersweep is based in Clapham South, London, UK.

To Top