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Wilfried Zaha says he doesn’t want to be a ‘streets won’t forget’ player - but perhaps he should make peace with it.
Is there a higher complement available to a player than “the streets won’t forget”? Would any player really not want that to be their epithet? One, at least – Wilfried Zaha, of Manchester United and Crystal Palace fame.
Judging by a recent Instagram story, Zaha has no truck with the concept of going down in history for his skill, flair or cult status. He wants to be remembered as something more.
‘I’m just a baller and always will be’
“Just gotta make this clear,” Zaha told his followers. “Just because you haven’t been fortunate to play for top clubs doesn’t mean you’re not a top player… I’m just a baller and always will be… Don’t put me in ‘streets will never forget’.”
To be fair to Zaha, while he may be underestimating the praise that the remembrance of the streets implies, one can take the point. The streets not forgetting someone also infers that they were in danger of being forgotten otherwise. Nobody says that the streets won’t forget Lionel Messi. They remember because they have to.
Zaha seems to be saying that he wants to be remembered as a first-rate player in his own right, not as someone on the cusp of greatness who flashed flair and talent but never hit the heights.
But nobody gets to choose how they’re remembered. Zaha did play for at least one very big club (perhaps he just wants to forget his frustrating spell at Old Trafford), but the only major trophy he has won is the Turkish Süper Lig. That isn’t a strong enough CV to be remembered as a great in his own right.
So he may have to settle for the streets keeping his name alive. They certainly will in Croydon and everywhere else that the kids play their backyard football in Crystal Palace replica kits. It’s not an insult. It’s a high complement – and even if it isn’t the one Zaha wants, it may be the best that he’ll get. Football isn’t always fair like that.
But the good news for Zaha is that while ‘the streets won’t forget’ implies cult status, not straight-up greatness, it absolutely recognises him as the baller he wants to be seen as. That part of his wish will come true.
‘The streets won’t forget’ may be the best complement Zaha gets
The streets don’t forget Michu, or Morten Gamst Pedersen, or Hatem Ben Arfa, or Demba Ba, and they won’t for quite some time. They were the players that kids who supported their clubs pretended to be while they did their best to imitate their tricks, flicks and wonder goals in the schoolyard.
They were also all brilliantly talented players, but ones who didn’t end up with a bulging trophy case. They were all gifted and made plays that set the fans to swooning. In other words, they’re much like Zaha.
There was a time when Zaha seemed destined for genuine greatness, and had his Manchester United career worked out better than perhaps he would have the medal collection to match his ability. As it is, he can’t lay claim to be remembered as a winner – he was (and is) in life, of course, given the money and fame his skill has earned him, but not so much on the football pitch. He wins one-on-one with the defender plenty, but silverware has largely eluded him.
That’s a shame, and perhaps it is absurd to judge a fine player’s legacy solely on their medal collection. Zaha winning the Premier League wouldn’t have made him a better player, after all. But success in competitions has always been used as a measure of greatness – you can’t win the Ballon d’Or without success in a major tournament, and you can’t escape the streets if you don’t.
So let’s hope that Zaha finds peace with his legacy. It’s a fine one, one that knows damned well how good he has been as a player, and one which a lot of players would give their eye teeth for. It’s just a shame that it’s one he doesn’t seem to want.
Related topics:Crystal PalacePremier League
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