Wilfried Zaha has launched a scathing response to former Crystal Palace teammate Jean-Philippe Mateta after Mateta claimed Zaha once laughed at his ambition to play for France.
Mateta recently made his France debut and scored in a 2-2 draw with Iceland.
“At Crystal Palace right at the start, when I wasn’t even playing, I spoke about the France team in the dressing room and I had team-mates like Wilfried Zaha who were laughing,” he told L’Equipe. “I responded saying that it was my objective and that I simply had to play to show what I could do.”
But Zaha hit back on social media, disputing Mateta’s portrayal.
“Did you dislike me the whole time? For you to come out with this, your come up story, I’m going to use Zaha as my come up story,” he said. “It’s nasty, man. It is nasty. This is why I don’t have football friends. This is why I keep myself to myself because how’s he gonna do that?”
Zaha denied ever intending to belittle Mateta’s ambitions. He claimed the remark was part of general dressing room banter and not meant to discourage.
Zaha added: “I spoke to him. It’s never a thing where I laughed at him like he’s not good enough. It was a thing where we were laughing saying there’s so many players it’s gonna be a difficult task.”
The exchange has reignited debate about how players speak candidly about ambition in private and how those remarks are later framed publicly.
For now, the rift between ex-teammates remains in the spotlight as Mateta’s France career blooms and Zaha defends his legacy.
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