Wilfried Zaha has fired back at his former Crystal Palace teammate Jean-Philippe Mateta, after the French striker alleged that Zaha mocked his international aspirations during their time together in South London.
Mateta, who recently scored on his first start for the French national team, told reporters that Zaha and several others laughed when he first spoke about his goal of representing France while he was still struggling for minutes at Palace.
“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 teammates like Wilfried Zaha who were laughing,” Mateta said.
“They said that I was mad to think about the France team when I wasn’t even playing at Crystal Palace, but I responded saying that it was my objective and that I simply had to play to show what I could do.”
The comments sparked a strong reaction from Zaha, who took to social media to “clear up this Mateta situation.” The Ivorian forward called the accusations “disgusting” and denied ever trying to put down a team-mate’s ambitions.
“Everyone knows me, the only time on a pitch is when I’m passionate and all of that stuff but I never bullied someone or said someone won’t make it here or won’t make it at all or nothing like that,” Zaha said.
“It’s disgusting when I see someone who I thought was a friend do that.”
Zaha went on to clarify that Mateta’s memory of the conversation left out important context. According to him, several Palace players were involved in the exchange, which he insists was simply friendly banter rather than ridicule.
“The conversation that was had was his chances of playing for France way back when he wasn’t playing for Palace and there were 10 players that he had this conversation with and as friends, we laughed it off but we were joking around, [saying] that it is going to be difficult, especially with Benzema all these different players playing in those positions,” Zaha explained.
“But we never ever once said ‘you’re never going to make it.’
“Why would he say my name when there was 10 people there? Is it just because Zaha is the biggest name?”
The 31-year-old, now on loan at Charlotte FC from Turkish giants Galatasaray, said he feels disappointed and hurt by Mateta’s comments, stressing that he has nothing but respect for his former team-mate.
“I do not understand. It’s disgusting. I’ve never hated on anyone. Now I’m getting messages: ‘Oh you’re not laughing now at Mateta.’ I couldn’t care less. Well done to him. I even congratulated him publicly on his Instagram.
“Like it’s nasty man, it’s nasty. This is why I don’t have football friends, this is why I keep myself to myself, because how is he going to do that?”
Zaha and Mateta played together for over two years following the Frenchman’s arrival at Palace in January 2021.
Since Zaha’s departure to Turkey last summer, Mateta’s career has flourished – his scoring form for Palace since the start of the 2023-24 season earned him a first call-up to the France national team earlier this month.
