{"id":290817,"date":"2023-10-02T22:00:30","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T22:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=290817"},"modified":"2023-10-02T22:00:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T22:00:30","slug":"wilfried-zaha-insists-dismal-spell-at-united-made-him-a-better-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/wilfried-zaha-insists-dismal-spell-at-united-made-him-a-better-player\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilfried Zaha insists dismal spell at United made him a better player"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Wilfried Zaha insists dismal spell at Manchester United made him a better player&#8230; as former Crystal Palace winger insists he&#8217;s &#8216;not bothered&#8217; by his failed \u00a310m move and relishes Old Trafford return with Galatasaray<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Wilfried Zaha returns to Old Trafford with Galatasaray on Tuesday<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The 30-year-old played just four times for United after a \u00a310m move in 2013<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Click HERE to listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s &#8216;It&#8217;s All Kicking Off&#8217;\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Wilfried Zaha says he returns to Manchester United as a player who refused to let his career \u2018die out\u2019 a decade on from his failed move to Old Trafford.<\/p>\n<p>The 30-year-old is back in Manchester with Galatasaray ahead of Tuesday\u2019s Champions League Group A clash, and it was put to him that he may well still have a chip on his shoulder about his miserable spell in a United shirt.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if he is still irritated or frustrated that his \u00a310million move in 2013 resulted in just four appearances for United, he said: \u2018I&#8217;ll be honest, when you look at my face, do you think I&#8217;m bothered?<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Realistically, I think I went through a phase where you either build from it or you die out from it and me personally I was never going to die out from it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It built my character for me to just continue my career because I was determined to not let my career die out because I went somewhere and it didn&#8217;t work out.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/02\/22\/76089641-0-image-a-15_1696283111752.jpg\" height=\"433\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Wilfried Zaha returns to Old Trafford on Tuesday night with Galatasaray\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I was just determined to reach where I wanted to reach and yes, I&#8217;m here today.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Zaha is no stranger to coming up against Manchester United since his underwhelming season at Old Trafford, scoring twice in a behind-closed-doors 3-1 away win for Crystal Palace in 2021 and in Ralf Rangnick\u2019s final game as United interim boss at Selhurst Park.<\/p>\n<p>But as for whether he has added motivation, Zaha is not convinced.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It was a normal league game up against United, they just happened to be against United,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/02\/22\/76089649-0-image-a-16_1696283164956.jpg\" height=\"353\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Zaha played just four games for Manchester United following a \u00a310m move in 2013<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I had my past here when I was 19\/20. When I went back to Palace and had league games against them, I just played against them like work.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u2018Man United was a team I was at a long, long tine ago. 10 years forward I\u2019m 30 years old and I feel like I\u2019ve matured in my game.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019m at a big club in Galatasaray. We have a lot of talent, we have a lot of experience and I think we\u2019re ready for tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We have players who can hurt them tomorrow. Me personally I\u2019m looking forward to the game.&#8217;<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12586395\/Wilfried-Zaha-Manchester-United-dismal-spell-Old-Trafford-Galatasaray-Champions-League.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Wilfried Zaha insists dismal spell at Manchester United made him a better player&#8230; as former Crystal Palace winger insists he&#8217;s &#8216;not bothered&#8217; by his failed <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/wilfried-zaha-insists-dismal-spell-at-united-made-him-a-better-player\/\" title=\"Wilfried Zaha insists dismal spell at United made him a better player\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Wilfried Zaha insists dismal spell at United made him a better player - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/wilfried-zaha-insists-dismal-spell-at-united-made-him-a-better-player\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wilfried Zaha insists dismal spell at United made him a better player - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wilfried Zaha insists dismal spell at Manchester United made him a better player&#8230; 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