Patrick Vieira places decision firmly on Wilfried Zaha over his Crystal Palace future

By Andrew McSteen

Patrick Vieira has stated once again that Wilfried Zaha’s Crystal Palace future is his own to decide.

The Crystal Palace forward could leave SE25 at the end of this season with his contract set to run out, but Eagles boss Patrick Vieira is relaxed as ever when discussing the future of the Ivorian.

“Wilfried knows the position of the football club and the decision is going to be his,” said Vieira ahead of his side facing Fulham at Selhurst Park on Boxing Day.

“When he will be ready, we will listen to what he has to say, but everybody knows that we want him to stay in our football club. We want to grow with Wilfried as one of our leaders and the decision has to be his.”

The forward, who turned 30 last month, is just short of his 450th appearance for the South London club and Vieira is in no doubt that the former Manchester United is fully-focused on pushing the Eagles up the league.

“The only focus at the moment is about the way he’s been training,” added Vieira. “It’s about how he’s preparing himself to compete and to help the team to perform.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD