Form Guide: Why Zaha undoubtedly deserves second England chance

"When you see someone put £50m on the table that's when you think about it (selling).” That wasn’t a quote from Jurgen Klopp about Philippe Coutinho, or Antonio Conte on Eden Hazard, but Alan Pardew after Crystal Palace turned down a £15m bid from Tottenham for Wilfried Zaha in the summer.

It was a moment of ‘classic Pardew’ suggesting that a winger that, in 79 Premier League appearances prior to this season, had a direct hand in just 9 goals was worth anywhere near that figure. The 23-year old, after all, is a player that has ultimately failed to come good on his enormous potential.

So far this season, however, there’s a growing sense that the trickster is becoming more than just that, finally adding an end product to his game so clearly lacking since making the step up to the top-flight. A combination of pace, power and height, Zaha really should have been a more consistent threat to this point but, still young and with the support of his manager and the fans, he seems to be turning a corner.

Like Bolasie, who often lined up on the opposite flank, Zaha failed to deliver in the final third despite possessing all of the physical attributes to cause real problems for opposition defences. Now separated following the former’s big money move to Everton both are beginning to show the sort of consistent form, particularly in terms of delivery into the box, that had been absent from their games to now. Both, in that regard, are undoubtedly profiting from the presence of a big Belgian frontman to look for in the box.

Zaha and Benteke haven’t quite developed the same instant rapport discussed in this week’s piece on the Bolasie-Lukaku partnership on Merseyside. However, the benefit of a quality target man to aim for - with all due respect to Connor Wickham - is certainly a boost to Palace as a whole and in particular those tasked with finding him with crosses.

A look into Zaha’s figures certainly highlight a marked improvement this season. Not only is he averaging more accurate balls into the box per game (1), but his success rate has improved season-on-season in the top-flight. Up from 23.7% when excluding corners last season, a figure of 31% is the sixth best in the Premier League this season.

Such an improvement in his delivery from wide areas has led to a tally of three assists this season, all of which have been from balls into the box from the right wing. It’s meant that in the space of nine appearances this season he has already doubled his total for assists from the previous two seasons combined, with an average of 1.4 key passes per game at its highest in his Premier League career.

It’s not only the areas that needed improvement that are progressing in Zaha’s game though, as he is beginning to build on his already impressive dribbling ability. With more confidence the winger’s approach has become more direct and his decision making more astute. Indeed, while an average of 5 successful dribbles per game is the most in the Premier League right now, more pertinently his success rate when attempting to take on an opponent is at an all time high. Up substantially at 67% this season from 52% last season and 41.8% in 2014/15, Zaha’s progress earned him a place in our piece on Europe’s best dribblers last month.

It’s the fact that improvements have been clear over the course of his second spell at Palace, rather than just this season representing an anomaly, that is most encouraging. A WhoScored.com rating of 7.55 this season is by far his highest in the Premier League though, and enough to rank among the top 20 players in the top-flight thus far.

His more immediate form is surely worthy of a second chance at international level, last receiving a call-up for England four years ago as the teenage sensation set to take the Premier League by storm. After all, a rating of 7.78 in the league since the start of September is not only among the top ten players but first of all Englishman at a time when Gareth Southgate has very few options able to claim to be both fully fit and in form.

Zaha is certainly one of those options, so should he be overlooked for selection yet again it would be very harsh on a player that has put in the hard yards to start to look like the player we all thought he could be.

“We’re trying to help Wilf to become a better player,” Pardew said earlier this season. “We think his ambitions to play for England can be realised here, and there's no reason why that can't happen.” While form should be all important, if Zaha does continue to miss out on a place in the England squad, it may just highlight that he does need to look for his next move in order to receive the recognition that his performances this season have undoubtedly deserved.

Should Wilfried Zaha receive a call-up to Gareth Southgate's England squad? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below