Southgate understands why Zaha chose Ivory Coast over England

Despite winning two caps for England, Zaha ultimately switched his allegiance to the country of his birth in 2016.

England manager Gareth Southgate understands Wilfried Zaha’s decision to play for Ivory Coast.

The Crystal Palace winger is preparing to face the Three Lions at Wembley on Tuesday. While only a friendly, it will be the first time he has faced them since switching his international allegiance.

Zaha previously represented England at youth level. He won two caps for the senior team in friendlies from 2012 to 2013, before choosing to play for Ivory Coast four years later.

‘He felt the Ivory Coast was the route to go’

Since his Ivory Coast debut in 2017, Zaha has won a further 25 caps and played in the Africa Cup of Nations three times.

“He’s a talent,” said Southgate, who coached Zaha at Under-21 level for England.

“He’s a good player playing at a high level every week. He felt the Ivory Coast was the route to go, and I totally understood that. It’s hard to say what his role might have been with us.

“Raheem [Sterling] has been a key part of our team for a long period, Jesse Lingard had done a fabulous job and, at the start, we had Adam Lallana, who was our player of the year for the first 18 months or so.”

At the time of Zaha’s England debut, the Abidjan-born winger starred for Palace before enduring a difficult spell at Manchester United. He only made one further appearance for the Three Lions. Not even a loan spell at Cardiff and a return to Palace could revive his fortunes.

The Ivorian will hope to show England what they missed out on during Tuesday’s friendly in London.