‘Different stages of grief at warp speed’ – Reaction to Wilfried Zaha’s Crystal Palace exit as forward leaves behind greatest player legacy

Crystal Palace fans were left in a state of shock this week after Wilfried Zaha completed a move to Galatasaray.

The Eagles had offered the 30-year-old a four-year deal worth £200,000 a week to stay at Selhurst Park.

Croydon-raised Zaha, a free agent, signed for the Turkish giants on Monday.

The Palace academy product made 458 appearances in red and blue across two stints, scoring 90 goals and providing 76 assists. He is the club’s Premier League record goalscorer and appearance holder. He won promotion to the top flight and reached an FA Cup final.

EDMUND BRACK caught up with Five Year Plan contributor Jack Pierce, HLTCO founder Dan Cook and South London Press columnist Adam Sells, who coached the winger during his time working at Palace’s academy, to get their views on Zaha’s exit.

What was your reaction to the news? A day many Palace fans thought would never arrive?

Cook: “It’s like I’m going through the different stages of grief at warp speed. It’s a very emotional time.”

“As much as we have had the best part of five years to build up to this and realise it’s going to come one day, when all the Saudi stuff and Fenerbache rumours came and went, in the last week or so, it felt as though it’s the closest we have been to getting Wilf to commit to signing a new contract at Crystal Palace.

“Galatasaray came out of the blue.

“It’s not a pleasant feeling. Every Palace fan has always had a chunk of their psyche resigned to the fact that he’s not going to be with us forever, but there was part of me that thought when push comes to shove, he would always be part of this club.

“You can’t put a tangible value on what Wilfried Zaha means to Crystal Palace – it’s impossible to quantify it to people who haven’t been there and watched every kick of his career. The academy links, the big goals and big moments aren’t something you can just explain with a few hundred words – it’s the feeling he gives you.

“He has captivated our entire fanbase in what was his first start in the CPFC 2010 consortium’s first game in charge.”

Pierce: “It’s taken a bit of getting used to that he’s not going to play for Palace.  But the worst scenario would have been him staying in the Premier League and playing against Palace.

“Palace fans will wish him well, if not a little underwhelmed at the move he’s made.”

Considering the moments of magic that Zaha is capable of,  is it a slightly underwhelming move to leave the Premier League for Turkey?

Sells: “I’m sad and surprised – I really thought he would stay. But on reflection, it could be the best outcome for both parties.

“I’m surprised that Wilf, in one sense, was prepared to leave the Premier League to play in Turkey. But, on the other hand, he will have European football, which is something that he has wanted to test himself with. You have to respect his decision. 

“There is no escaping the fact it is a huge club. He will have felt that from his response from the fans and the courting of the hierarchy there.”

Pierce: “When you see some of the clubs he’s been linked with earlier in the window – PSG, Atletico Madrid and even Marseille, because he is French-speaking – they made a lot of sense.

“Galatasary are a massive club and the atmosphere at their stadium will be quite something in most home games, but in terms of the league he will be playing in and the calibre of player he will be playing against, it does seem a bit of a drop in quality for Wilf.

“You presume that the lure of playing with a big club, with a big fanbase and the possibility of Champions League football, has been the difference from signing the extension at Palace.”

Do the injuries he picked up in the second half of last season – and the money his departure frees up in wages – perhaps offer a silver lining?

Cook: “Plenty of neutrals said to me that we were mad giving a 30-year-old, turning 31 in November, £200,000 for four years. If you removed any degree of sentiment or romanticism from it, then it didn’t make business sense.

“Every Palace fan was aware of that, but that’s difficult to try and explain to a non-Palace fan.

“The vast majority of the fanbase had no problem with it because of what he signifies to the club.

Sells: “If you had asked me in January, prior to the first injury, I would have said that you have to keep Wilfried at all costs. But he’s 31 in November and he’s had three muscle injuries in the last five or so months of the season.

“Who knows what the next four years would have given us? Perhaps it’s better he goes out now without him or us having that concern, and he can go on and do what he wants to do.

“It’s time for Palace to move forward and find the next Wilfried Zaha.”

Pierce: “It’s fair to say a lot of Palace fans, as much as we love him and always will, there was some scepticism towards the notion of offering him a four-year contract on £200,000 a week.

“A soon-to-be 31-year-old who has had recurring injury problems over the last six months – it’s a fair concern a lot of fans had.

“The sadness isn’t that he’s had those injuries, but it’s that it’s stopped us having the goodbye with a player who, for me, is the greatest player in the club’s history,

“He limped off against Bournemouth in the penultimate home game, and that was it – it’s his last time in a Palace shirt.

“It contributes to the underwhelming nature of all of this. He was on the pitch after the Forest game, but there was no official goodbye there. He looked shy and melted into the background while other stuff was going on.”

Is it now imperative that the club keep hold of Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze heading into this season?

Cook: “If we get to the summer of 2024 and Ebs is digging his heels in and not agreeing to a new deal, then we have to develop a harder edge as a football club and say: ‘If you’re not going to sign a new contract then we have to sell you in the summer of 2024’.

“We can’t afford to see a player of his quality leave for free. With Michael, there is a lot of chatter about his release clause.

“If there was a £35million release clause, there would have been a queue of clubs a mile long trying to activate that at the start of the summer window.

“You worry about a domino effect with Zaha going.

“It’s great we have so many players that are attractive to so many Champions League clubs, but on the other hand, it creates a rod for your own back.

Sells: “Steve Parish did everything he could to keep Wilfried at Selhurst Park – he offered a club-record deal. Those two – Eze and Olise – absolutely vital components, but we need more.

“We need four more attacking players to be added to the squad before the season begins ideally – we need three wide players and a centre forward to make the squad strong enough to push on.”

Where does Wilfried Zaha stand in Palace’s all-time greats?

Cook: “Your age colours it. I wasn’t around to watch Jim Cannon or Ian Wright – they are the other two you would put up there with our greatest ever.

“But when you consider that he grew up down the road, that he came through the academy, that he burst on to the scene straight after our administration when we were looking for a lightning rod and hero – someone we could build around – for him to not just return us to the Premier League, but put us on his back so often, you can’t get away from the assumption that he is our greatest player of all time.”

Sells: “Wilfried owes the club nothing – he has served his contract. He has quite simply been the club’s greatest player ever.

“I have had the pleasure of seeing him from a young age, before he was even exposed to the wider public.

“They are the fondest memories. The moments of magic and seeing him develop on pitches at various training grounds – seeing him go from the kid on the training ground who developed and showed his talent.

“He could do things I had never seen anybody else do before. He blossomed into a real talent thereafter.

“I first saw Victor Moses and thought there wouldn’t be another one like him, but then Wilfried came along.

“We have to believe the next super talent is not too far away.”

Pierce: “He is right up there. In my lifetime, he’s the greatest I have seen in red and blue.

“There are arguments for players who came before and the team of the 80s hold a huge amount of love from Palace fans.

“But you can’t look past Wilf now. His impact in his initial spell – inspiring us towards promotion. His performance at Wembley in the play-off final was exceptional.

“We spoke to Kevin Phillips earlier in the year. He said Wilf was the dynamic difference between the two sides that day. He was the best player on the pitch by such a distance.

“In his second spell, he has more than contributed towards maintaining top-flight football for Palace for the longest spell we have been in the top flight, that would not have happened without Wilfried Zaha.”