GOAL spoke with Zaha and U.S. internationals Tim Ream and Patrick Agyemang to discuss what he'll bring to the MLS side
Wilfried Zaha was willing to take a gamble. Not a blind one, to be fair, but a calculated one. But there, of course, was one very important person he had to convince: his wife.
"I'm married. I've got kids," Zaha says. "That has been difficult, but what I try to tell my wife, because she's in my ear all the time, during this period now… we've got the rest of our lives to sit in one place. Just enjoy the moment that is actually right now. Let's just enjoy this moment right now."
There hasn't been much for the Zahas to enjoy over the last year. After spending over a decade at the club where he started as an academy prospect at Crystal Palace, his moves to Turkey with Galatasaray and France on loan with Lyon hadn't gone to plan. His future was uncertain, his career was at a crossroads. Zaha didn't want to wait for a solution that may never come; he wanted to make his solution by diving into something with no second thoughts and just a little bit of hope. Hope is what so often carried him, after all. Zaha has never been afraid to bet on himself. He has a career worth of case studies to prove it.
"That's the gamble sometimes in football," he says. "Obviously, now I'm 32, I've had both sides. I've gone from [being the guy] at Crystal Palace to not playing at all at Galatasaray and then not playing at Lyon. It's a thing where I don't let it break me mentally because I know the player I am."
That in many ways, is how he ended up at Charlotte FC: Zaha's willingness to bet on both himself and a club. Charlotte announced the signing of the former Premier League star on Wednesday, capturing a player that is no doubt the club's most high-profile signing to date. While the 32-year-old ex-Crystal Palace standout's decision may have come on an impulse, the signing itself is the work of many months of close calls and near misses for those in charge at Charlotte FC. The club needed a game-changer and, finally, they were able to get one that, in many ways, feels designed in a lab for this exact moment and this exact team.
"The love I've had being here [with the team] for a couple of days from the players, from the staff, everything, it makes me feel like this is a better journey," he says.
That process was never easy, which Charlotte can certainly tell you, and, for a player like Zaha, that decision was never straightforward. He's made it, though, for a variety of reasons. Many are on-field. After being frozen out while on loan at Lyon, Zaha is motivated or, you could say, desperate to play. For years, he had a home at Crystal Palace. For the past two years, he felt like he didn't have one. An unfamiliar feeling, but ultimately the one that made him cross an ocean to find that home in a place that he, admittedly, is only just learning more about.
"When the opportunity came up, I'm a person, I want to try new things, you know? I want to discover new things," Zaha explains. "Charlotte seemed like a beautiful family-based place. That's exactly what I'm looking for. All I want is a peaceful life, enjoy my football, score goals, and just be happy."
Everyone involved seems happy with this deal, none more so than those at the club that made it happen. This is the story of how Zaha got to Charlotte.
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Familiar faces from Prem help in MLS recruitment pitch
Change was coming for Zaha, and it needed to come relatively soon.
After a decade of being the guy at Crystal Palace, Zaha departed the Premier League for Galatasaray in 2023 in search of new experiences. The first season was okay, as he scored 10 goals in 42 games but, heading into 2024-25, he wasn't in the club's plans. Lyon, owned by Crystal Palace owner John Textor, threw him a lifeline. It didn't prevent him from sinking further. He played just six games for the club in the first half of the Ligue 1 season. It quickly became clear that Zaha needed something new.
Charlotte popped up, and then things got rolling.
Admittedly, Zaha didn't know much about Charlotte before the club started its pursuit. As a younger man, he'd go to Miami during his offseason and had spent some time traveling America. Charlotte wasn't on his radar until recently.
One of the first few people Zaha talked to was Christian Benteke. A former teammate at Crystal Palace, Benteke was the MLS Golden Boot winner for D.C. United this season with 23 goals. He was one of the few Zaha trusted enough to reach out to to get an honest review of both the league and the lifestyle in the U.S.
"He said it's competitive and that the life's enjoyable," Zaha says. "That's all I really need to hear."
And so Zaha got to work. He discussed the opportunity with his family, who have now gotten used to moving around a lot. This was a chance to at least stay in one place for a little while. The deal is an initial loan lasting 18 months. Afterward, there could be room for both sides to extend if all goes to plan.
"The plan was never to hop from different cities like I have like I had to be honest," he says. "I like to be in one place, especially for my kids as well. I see no reason why I can't stay longer."
Zaha was sold on the vision of Charlotte as a family city, a vision that has previously been backed up by players Zaha has played against in the Premier League: Ashley Westwood and Tim Ream. Funnily enough, Zaha also ran into another familiar face during his first day with the club: former Leicester City defender Christian Fuchs, who is now a Charlotte assistant coach.
"I didn't know he was here at all!" Zaha admits with a laugh. "I saw him randomly and said, 'What the hell are you doing here?!' He's loved it and was just telling me how nice everyone is here and that everyone is welcome. Me personally, that's just something I needed. I just needed more welcoming people for me to just get on with what I need to do on the pitch. It's nice to see a familiar face."
The key familiar face, though, was Dean Smith. The former Aston Villa boss is entering his second year in charge of Charlotte FC. His sides have done battle with Zaha plenty of times. He, more than anyone, knows exactly what Charlotte is getting. Smith's presence helped convince Zaha that this move would be legit and that Charlotte was a legitimate side that would play the game the right way.
Charlotte, meanwhile, has been pursuing this type of player for a long, long time. The road to getting one was harder than many people realize.
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Selling Charlotte to Zaha
Approaching the new year, Charlotte FC general manager Zoran Krneta took just a few days off. He and his wife went to Miami in search of much-needed rest. He didn't get it. Instead, Krneta spent his entire trip both on the beach and on his phone. The scenery was nice, but there was no relaxing. There was work to be done.
Krneta, for months, has been courting a star. That process began last summer when he set out to sign the one missing piece to lead his attack. The club got close. Sources confirmed to GOAL that the pursuits of both Miguel Almiron and Giovani Lo Celso were very, very real. A deal for Dutch international Calvin Stengs fell apart due to a medical. Ultimately, having missed out on all three, the club signed Pep Biel on an initial loan before bringing him back permanently this winter on a non-Designated Player deal.
"You get kicked in the teeth and then you have to continue fighting," Krneta said now with an air of relief. "It was very stressful last summer. Those last 10 days of that window, I can write a whole book about what happened."
Heading into the winter, though, Krneta had that chief goal: find a difference-maker. Smith had challenged him to find one, too. The way Smith phrased it, Charlotte was good last year, but missed that player that could make them great. They needed someone who could turn draws into victories. Zaha, they determined, was exactly that.
After pursuing a creative midfielder last summer, Krneta realized more than anything that the club needed someone more direct. The team has Biel and Israeli international Liel Abada to do the playmaking. They have a rising star in Patrick Agyemang up top, too. But they needed someone who could take this team to the next level by being able to create chances on their own. Enter Zaha.
"We have good players, but in the final minutes, we needed the one that will take the ball and do something special," Krneta says. "We had 51 points last season. He's the kind of player that's on, what he's on, will give us an extra 12 points, in my opinion, just because he will do something that will win us games all season."
Sorting out this deal wasn't easy, though, and you wouldn't blame Krneta for being left jaded by the ones that fell through before. This felt even more difficult than those because of the factors involved. Charlotte had to negotiate with the club he was on loan with Lyon, his parent club Galatasaray, and Zaha himself. There were a lot of phone calls and a lot of late nights.
"This is probably one of the most difficult negotiations I've ever seen," Krneta said. "It was a complex deal. It took us almost three months behind the scenes."
Throughout the process, though, there was no doubt. Zaha passed every test and checked every box. In the end, those late nights, and that "vacation" in Miami became worth it.
"We know his level," Krneta said. "I spoke with players that I know very well. I spoke with people who know him personally. We know the character of the player. He's a fantastic professional. He's a really good guy."
He added, "He's now hungry, more hungry than I've ever seen any of the players coming to Charlotte, I can tell you because he hasn't been playing for a long time. He was always the superstar of his team, so he played, and then suddenly you don't play and that actually affects you. You go back to your roots, and you want to go back and start playing….I think it will be a great addition."
- Taylor Banner/Charlotte FC
Star presence
When Agyemang found out about the Zaha signing, he was quickly transported somewhere else. He immediately felt like a little kid again growing up in East Hartford, Conn.
"I used to watch his highlights, man," Agyemang tells GOAL. "I played on the wing in college and I used to watch his highlights and take things from his book and add it to mine. If you told me back in 2018-19, that you're gonna play [with] Zaha, I'm gonna say you're crazy. I get to play with someone that I looked up to and, potentially, have a partnership on the field together and cause havoc, I can't wait. Do you know how exciting this team is going to be?"
Agyemang is flying high at the moment on his own. He just scored his first U.S. men's national team goal, building on what was a life-changing 2024. Throughout last season, Agyemang proved he can be the No. 9 for Charlotte by scoring 10 goals and five assists.
The pairing of the two forwards raises the expectations for Charlotte, but Zaha is used to pressure. For the better part of a decade, he was the guy at Crystal Palace He played 458 games for the club and scored 90 goals. Only two players, Jim Cannon and Terry Long, have played more games for Palace than Zaha, who would have passed Long if he hadn't made a year-long move to Manchester United early on. He's 10th on the club's all-time leading goalscorer chart, too, despite being played out on the wing.
In that sense, Zaha is a perfect Designated Player. This isn't a star coming from a well-oiled machine, like Bayern Munich or Manchester City, being asked to become a leader. Zaha has always had to be the guy at Palace, one of the lower-budgeted teams in the Premier League, the one his teammates looked to in moments of need. He's worn that weight on his shoulders before.
"I see myself as a top player, and I'm going to carry myself as a top player," he says. "I need to prove that constantly. In football, if you score one weekend then the next weekend they're expecting more. I've got that in my head. If I'm going to go around and say I'm a good player and this and that, then I've got to prove it constantly. I don't mind the pressure at all."
- Taylor Banner/Charlotte FC
Big expectations ahead
Ream, Charlotte's big addition last year, has seen Zaha up close, having played against the Ivorian in the Premier League with Fulham. He joins Agyemang in being excited about what he can bring to MLS.
'He's a fantastic player and has been for his entire career," Ream told GOAL. "He's an exciting player, dynamic, and he comes in with the attitude where he knows he can change games. That attitude is also him knowing that he's going to work, that he's going to get the ball, that he's going to make things happen. What a fantastic addition it is. Having someone of that caliber is going to be a game-changer for us."
Zaha is already in Charlotte FC preseason camp in Miami, with Ream and Agyemang joining soon after USMNT duty. From there, Charlotte will look to build head into the MLS season, which will now come with high expectations. The club has already added former Timbers standout Eryk Williamson to a talented midfield. Ream will lead a backline in front of the reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Kristian Khalina. Zaha will then spearhead the attack, leading from the front in the same way he always did at Palace.
Zaha is ready for that challenge. He's been waiting for it for a little while after so many months desperate for a big role again.
"I'm very motivated," Zaha said. "I just need to get back on the pitch. The reality is that I don't look elsewhere for confidence; I look for confidence in myself, you know? I've gone through a difficult period, but those things are things that helped me become who I am now. Once I get the opportunity to get back on the field, I just want to show I know what I can do."
After spending the past two years bouncing around in Turkey and France, Zaha is motivated by the challenge of being a leader again and in a player where he knows he will have 18 months to prove Charlotte right. Perhaps most importantly, though, he's looking forward to the unknown. This move to MLS is a new one for him, but that's what makes it so fun, right?
"When I embark on a journey, it's for me mainly," he says. "If I put in my mind that I want to go to the MLS and try something new, that's not something new to me. Before I played in the Premier League for 10 years and then I decided to try something different and go to Turkey and everyone asked 'Why would you do such a thing?' It's because it's my life. In the end, it's what I want to do. I made the decision. I want to come to [Charlotte] and see where the journey takes me."