Despite making his long-awaited competitive debut for Manchester United on Tuesday, Wilfried Zaha could still be allowed to leave the club on loan in the January transfer window, with newly-promoted Cardiff City keen to secure the former Palace’s man services for the remainder of the season.
Zaha signed for United last January, but after completing his £15m from Crystal Palace to Old Trafford this summer, the 20-year-old’s opportunities have been extremely limited, despite an excellent pre-season.
Having played at Wembley in the Community Shield against Wigan, Zaha had to wait until the fourth round of the Capital One Cup to make his competitive debut for the club and David Moyes has admitted that the lack of game time for the 20-year-old is a problem that must be addressed.
“We have to try to make sure he gets some playing time,” said Moyes
“Unfortunately, we haven’t done that with Wilf and, if it’s still the case in January, we would look at it.”
The United manager’s handling of Zaha, who turns 21 this month, has been a source of debate among Reds, with some considering Moyes’ approach totally justified considering Zaha’s young age and evident rawness and lack of tactical discipline, while other have found the decision to bench the youngster in favour of Ashley Young, Nani and Antonio Valencia simply inexplicable.
Cardiff, however, are reportedly ready to make an offer in January to have the former Palace man on loan for second half of the season, which could be Zaha’s last chance to force his way back into the England squad ahead of the World Cup next summer.
Roy Hodgson gave Zaha his second England cap against Scotland in August but, at the moment, the 20-year-old’s chances of making the trip to Brazil next summer appear to have vanished, considering he’s still to play a single minute of Premier League football, despite joining United four months ago.
In many ways Cardiff would be a perfect choice for Zaha and United, for Malky Mackay has a proven record in terms of developing youngsters and while Zaha would definitely fancy his chances of securing a spot in the starting XI, Cardiff have so far proved they’ve enough quality in their team to ensure the youngster would have to face some competition to get his chances.
Many would consider going out on loan a step back for the youngster, but new England sensation Andros Townsend has benefited enormously from a loan spell at QPR last season.
Here’s hoping Wilf will follow suit.
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