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WILFRIED ZAHA “disappeared” from Manchester United action after rumors of an affair with then-boss David Moyes’ daughter, his former teammate Patrice Evra claimed.
Crystal Palace winger Zaha moved to Old Trafford in 2013 but was mysteriously sidelined after an impressive preseason as he struggled to make the first team.
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Former left-back Evra, 39, was on the United team with Zaha and felt he never recovered after rumors of an affair with then-coach Moyes’ daughter Lauren.
He made the claim while speaking on Sky Sports before Zaha took the field for the Premier League clash between Crystal Palace and Man Utd.
Evra said: “All Crystal Palace fans know that Wilfred deserves better than Crystal Palace with all due respect. Such an electric player.
“I remember thinking that what is real in his Manchester United career is when he had this true or false affair with David Moyes’ daughter.
“Because I remember that in the preseason I played every day, and when that news comes out … it leaves the game and disappears.
“But what a player.”
After making the comments, host Kelly Cates said, “We don’t know the background to that story, so it’s probably best to leave that one for now.”
Zaha, 27, has always dismissed the accusations as “silly gossip” and said he never met Moyes’s daughter.
Later, Sky released a statement regarding Evra’s comments, saying: “We need to clarify a comment made earlier on the show that suggests there may have been a relationship between Wilfried Zaha and David Moyes’s daughter.”
“We understand that Wilfried Zaha has never met David Moyes’s daughter and that the claim made by Patrice was false. We apologize for any offense caused.”
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Zaha moved from Palace to Man Utd for an estimated fee of around £ 10 million for the 2013/14 season on a five-and-a-half-year contract, the latest transfer from the club overseen by Sir Alex Ferguson.
But after impressing over the summer, the 21-year-old played just 28 minutes in the Premier League for United and was sent on loan to Cardiff in January.
He returned to Selhurst Park just a year after leaving, and has been with the club ever since.
Speculation on why he fell from grace centered on claims of a relationship between him and Lauren, who is 19 at the time.
Moyes himself was fired from the job after just ten months despite Ferguson casting him for the role.
The Red Devils endured a painful campaign under his tenure that saw them finish seventh in the Premier League and were unable to enter Europe.
Zaha regretted her stint at the club and previously said she “really didn’t understand” why she fell from grace.
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As recently as June, the Ivory Coast international criticized Man Utd for not offering him any guidance amid speculation.
In an interview with The Locker Room, he told his former teammate Rio Ferdinand: “Nobody at the club told me anything, I didn’t know what to do at all.
“I remember tweeting something about it saying ‘silly rumors’ because it was getting too much done so I had to say something myself and then I remember the club media sent me a message saying’ you shouldn’t have done that, you shouldn’t have done it ‘done this’ and I’m thinking ‘you haven’t helped me’.
“I am here alone, fighting because people tell me that I have slept with the coach’s daughter and that is why you are not playing with me.
“The funny thing is, it’s been going on for so long that I felt like the manager wouldn’t come to talk to me about this.
“This is how I felt and I am thinking this man is ridiculous. To this day, I still have people who think that’s true and I haven’t even met their daughter. “
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Speaking in 2015, shortly after he rejoined the Palace after a tough season at Old Trafford, Zaha said he had never met Lauren.
He said: “What really frustrated me about the whole United thing was the fact that people didn’t know what was really going on on training ground.
“There were a lot of rumors that used to come out in some way and people believed them.
“Either I slept with David Moyes’s daughter or I have a bad attitude.
“Those are the two rumors that accompanied me until I left. I have not had a voice since.”
“As soon as someone sees me now, people think, ‘Wilfried Zaha, bad attitude,’ I don’t understand why.
“It’s like playing with any other team in the league for me, I don’t feel anything for them anymore.”
He claimed that Moyes told him that the reason he was not in the first team was that he was “not ready for the Premier League.”
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