Wilfried Zaha told the On The Judy Podcast that the ‘final straw’ for him deciding to play for Ivory Coast instead of England came when ex-Tottenham winger Andros Townsend and Arsenal favourite Jack Wilshere were picked ahead of him.
In 2016, Zaha opted against adding to the two England caps he won in friendlies, and instead, represented the country of his birth.
Zaha first won his caps under Roy Hodgson’s stewardship – he now manages him at Crystal Palace – before Gareth Southgate took to the touchline.
And a pretty honest and open Zaha made it clear that he opted to play for the Ivory Coast because he wanted to feel welcome.
“I reached a point where I thought that I need to go where I am appreciated,” said Zaha.
“Me not playing for Manchester United, everyone jumped on the bandwagon. ‘Not good enough, whatever, whatever’.
“Then I went on-loan to Palace. I had years where I was playing well. Still not getting picked. Four years down the line now.
“The time went I thought ‘I am done’ is there was one game when Southgate came to the game. Burnley away, I got an assist and played well. I felt that was the final straw because they were picking the team after.
“He picked Andros (Townsend) and Jack Wilshere, who just came back from injury, over me. I was like ‘that’s mad. I am done’.”
At the time of Zaha making the switch, Townsend, who is now his teammate at Selhurst Park, would have been coming towards the end of his Spurs career and then going out on loan to Newcastle.
As for Wilshere, albeit a midfielder, he was suffering a number of injuries, at the time, but he was still picked for the 2016 European Champions, which saw the Three Lions getting knocked out by Iceland.
Whilst Zaha would have added serious quality to England’s forward line, Southgate is lucky in the sense that he has an abundance of talent to choose from in the final third.
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