Bolasie: Zaha has ability to be 'unstoppable'

Zaha's sensational performances in the Championship earned the 21-year-old a January 2013 move to Old Trafford. He quickly returned to the Selhurst Park side on loan for the second half of the 2012/13 season, and helped the Eagles to promotion back to the top flight for the first time since 2005.

By the time he headed north for the bright lights of Manchester, Sir Alex Ferguson - who sanctioned the deal for Zaha earlier in the year - had been succeeded by David Moyes. The new manager proceeded to hand the prodigious youngster just 28 minutes of Premier League action in a United shirt.

Having also failed to impress new Red Devils supremo Louis van Gaal, allegedly being the only player who failed to turn up for 'voluntary' training during pre-season, Zaha has returned 'home' to rediscover his form, which began with a stoppage-time equaliser at Newcastle on his second debut for the Eagles.

And fellow wide-man Bolasie, speaking exclusively to FourFourTwo, believes a patient approach will benefit Zaha, who he says is among the best players he has ever shared a football pitch with.

"It’s good that Wilf's come back. He needs to get his confidence back by playing games and Palace is a good place for him to do that," the Palace star said.

"We have other wingers as well, so the competition is healthy, but Wilf is up there with the best I've played with. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens. He has massive potential, but a lot of people have potential – you have to fulfil it. If he can do that he’ll be unstoppable.

"So far it hasn't worked out for him at Manchester United, but he has to be patient and take his time. Palace and United are two very different environments. At Palace people might underestimate us and you can catch them off-guard, but at United you don’t get that. The change in manager could have played a big part too; Alex Ferguson signed Wilf but wasn't there by the time he arrived at United."

Read the full interview with Yannick Bolasie FIRST in the the FourFourTwo Football Weekly, a free cross-platform digitial publication available to download on your device every Thursday evening from Google Play and the App Store. This week's edition also looks at how Chelsea have used FFP to nudge ahead of their rivals, explains why there is no point in Newcastle sacking Alan Pardew and contains previews for all 10 of this weekend's Premier League matches using Stats Zone.