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Football

20th Apr 2019

Wilfried Zaha says David Moyes tried to “destroy my career for no reason”

Wilfried Zaha has opened up on his time at Man Utd and his fractious relationship with David Moyes, saying he tried to "destroy his career for no reason"

Wil Jones

Moyes tried to “break me in every way possible”

Wilfried Zaha has hit out at David Moyes, saying the former Manchester United Manager tried to “break me in every way possible” and “destroy my career for no reason.”

Speaking to Sportsmail, Zaha opened up about his ill-fated time at Old Trafford.

Wilfried Zaha was signed by Alex Ferguson for Manchester United in 2013, and was immediately loaned back to Crystal Palace for the remainder of that season. However only a few months later, Ferguson would announce his retirement and be replaced by David Moyes.

He failed to break into the United first team and in 2014 was loaned back to Crystal Palace, eventually returning to South London on a permanent basis  – where he has returned to his previous impressive form.

Zaha says the move was “the opportunity of a lifetime” and that he “tried my hardest in every training session to show what I could do.”

Yet he says he was “belittled” by a United coach in training, and asked to recreate his Palace form whilst also being told to cut out the tricks and skills.

“But when he took me out of the Champions League squad and put in Adnan Januzaj, who had never played for the first team, I knew then that this is way bigger than I ever thought and had gone way beyond footballing reasons,” Zaha continues.

“When it was not about football or ability, what could I do?”

Zaha is now the subject of transfer speculation after another impressive season, with United reported to be interested in taking him back. Something tells me Zaha wouldn’t fancy returning to Old Trafford.