Gareth Southgate has revealed sorting out the future of Wilfried Zaha was one of the first challenges he took on as England manager but the Crystal Palace ace had already decided to represent the country of his birth, Ivory Coast.
Zaha, 24, announced his decision to switch international allegiances from England to Ivory Coast in November just days before Southgate was named England manager on a permanent basis.
The former Manchester United winger had only won two England caps prior to Southgate’s arrival and hadn’t featured internationally since getting 15 minutes in a 3-2 win over Scotland in August 2013.
However, Southgate has since revealed he reached out to Zaha in an attempt to convince him his international future was with England only to find out he was too late.
“I didn’t really appreciate there was this disappearing egg timer on him going to the Ivory Coast,” the London Evening Standard quote Southgate as saying. “And of course I was interim manager at the point.
“He was the first player I went and saw when I got the job permanently but he’d already made his mind up to go across to the Ivory Coast.”
Zaha omission from England squads in the past rankled with certain fans particularly given the obsession with selecting his Palace teammate Andros Townsend.
Only Eden Hazard (119) and Adama Traore (110) have completed more dribbles in the Premier League this season than Zaha (104).
For more stats on Wilfried Zaha, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
