The Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha is extremely close to committing his future to the England national team rather than to the Ivory Coast national team.
The 20-year-old is eligible to play for both, but it is thought that he has told his friends that he would play for the England national team if he is selected on a regular basis by the manager Roy Hodgson. This comes as a major blow to Ivory Coast and their efforts to make the 20-year-old represent the African team in the upcoming 2013 African cup of nations. Wilfried Zaha is one of the highly rated youngsters in English football right now.
Wilfried Zaha was born in Abidjan, but has been in England since the age of four. He has been recently linked with moves to the clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United. He has been largely responsible for the incredible start to the new season by the Championship club Crystal Palace. Zaha has been called up for the first-ever England match by the manager Roy Hodgson. He is expected to play a part in the friendly match for England against Sweden on Wednesday night. A number of high-ranking officials from the Ivory Coast football Federation and also Didier Drogba tried to persuade the player into representing Ivory Coast.
“[Zaha] should have been courted by England, Stuart Pearce should have had him more involved in the Under-21s. I spoke to the FA about it at the time. It’s no good waiting until he’s playing for Chelsea. We’re complaining about the amount of foreign players in the Premier League and we are losing ones who could play for England,” said the Leeds United manager Neil Warnock. Neil Warnock is credited with playing a major role in developing Zaha to the player he is today.