Cardiff City threw struggling Man Utd star a lifeline but it never worked: View | OneFootball

Having come through the youth ranks at Crystal Palace, Wilfried Zaha proved a real star in his early days for the Eagles.

Although his debut came in 2009/10, his breakthrough campaign came in 2011/12, with Zaha making 41 league appearances that season, scoring six goals and registering seven assists.

Zaha also scored three goals and registered four assists in the EFL Cup that season, with Crystal Palace beaten in the semi-finals of the competition by none other than Cardiff City.

Of course, as we will discuss, Zaha would go on to become a Bluebird further down the line, but before then, Manchester United would snap up the Eagles star for a reported £10 million.

This came in January 2013, with Zaha loaned back to Palace for the remainder of the campaign in what proved a successful season for the winger both team wise and individually.

Wilfried Zaha's Manchester United spell

Having joined the club in the winter window in 2013, just months later, then Man Utd boss Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement from management.

This left Zaha with the label of being Ferguson's final signing as United manager, but also meant that when he eventually arrived at Old Trafford, the manager that had signed him had gone, with a new boss in place.

Perhaps this could be one of the reasons Zaha struggled so much at United, with the player only making just four senior appearances for the Red Devils between August and December 2013.

Given his struggles, Man Utd decided a loan move away from the club was the best thing for Zaha that January, and the Ivory Coast international ended up moving to Wales.

At the time, the Bluebirds were a Premier League side, albeit struggling, but it was a great lifeline for Zaha to show United what he could do in the top-flight.

Zaha's struggles continued at Cardiff

Despite the above, however, Zaha's struggles for form continues in the Welsh capital.

Despite grabbing an assist on his debut for the club in a 2-1 win over Norwich City, this would go on to prove Zaha's only goal contribution during his time with the Bluebirds.

Indeed, Zaha went on to make a total of 13 appearances for the club, 12 in the Premier League and one in the FA Cup, in what turned out to be an abysmal end of the season for the club.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was unable to steer the club to safety, with Cardiff instead finishing rock bottom of the division and missing out on safety by six points.

Zaha's career post-Cardiff

Given how things went at Cardiff, supporters will have been surprised to see Zaha go on to forge a strong career in the Premier League.

Eventually returning to his boyhood club, Crystal Palace, Zaha would prove a talisman for the Eagles time and time again in recent memory, playing a key role in helping the club continue to maintain their Premier League status.

By the time Zaha departed Palace last summer, the 31-year-old had racked up 305 Premier League appearances, scoring 68 goals and registering 33 assists.

With the above in mind, it would be fair to say that Cardiff never saw the best of the player, or anything close to it.

Unfortunately, some transfer deals simply do not work out, and that was certainly the case with Zaha's loan deal to the Cardiff City Stadium.