Wilfried Zaha has talent to condemn Cardiff to relegation, admits Neil Warnock

Wilfried Zaha has the talent to condemn Cardiff City to relegation this weekend, manager Neil Warnock has admitted.

As Crystal Palace manager at the time, Warnock revived Zaha’s career five years ago when he returned to Palace following a disastrous a £15m move to Manchester United.

Zaha now has the opportunity to consign his old boss and the Bluebirds to a season in the Championship when Palace travel to the Welsh capital on Saturday.

“Wilfried wasn’t in a good place when he came back from Manchester United,” said Warnock, of the final United signing made under Sir Alex Ferguson.

“I met him in the chairman’s office and I had half an hour with him. It was obvious he felt let down by Manchester United and when I spoke to him I could understand why he felt that.

“He was only a young lad and he needed help – an arm around the shoulder. But it didn’t appear he got any of that.

“But that’s what you do - you go away and rekindle that enthusiasm. He’s always had tremendous skill and now he’s showing people his worth. He will end up at one of the top clubs in Europe.”

Zaha has been part of a Palace side that have won four of their last five away games and have the best record of any Premier League team on their travels in 2019, other than Manchester City.

Cardiff, on the other hand, have won just once – away to Brighton – in their last six games and would have gone the way of Fulham and Huddersfield already if Brighton had not struggled for points.

Warnock is nothing if not a realist and there will be no shortage of know-how and common sense when he and Roy Hodgson – his fellow septuagenarian – shake hands and lock horns on the touchline.

One of the harsh realities the Bluebirds boss will not deny is that if the end comes this weekend, then whatever meagre pickings Cardiff offer will quickly be pounced upon by other clubs.

Warnock was only half joking when he said: “One of the lads – I don’t know if they were joking – said, ‘we’re going to get a £20m offer for Neil Etheridge, gaffer! What would you do?’

“Neil was sat there and I said, ‘I’d put him in my car, drive him there, and not let him out until he’d signed.’

“There are bound to be clubs circling, but the question is whether any of our players would get in their teams? Victor (Camarasa) maybe, but he probably had his worst game at Fulham.

“As far as the others are concerned, then any good offers for our players would have to be considered.”

Warnock has been around too long to feel light-headed at the prospect of relegation, but he is lighter in the pocket after being fined £20,000 by the FA for comments he made about referees after the controversial defeat to Chelsea in March.

He will not be appealing but after learning Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta had suggested he might help pay the fine, Warnock added: “They got win bonuses when they all know they shouldn’t have got anything at all. I’m not saying that it would be justice, but it would be nice of him to do it.”