Sometimes good things go unnoticed and sometimes the spotlight spends less time on the people who deserve it most. Take Paul Scholes during his career at Manchester United, plying his trade in the centre of the pitch, doing the basics effectively and making difficult stuff appear simple. From breaking play up with well-timed tackles to spreading the ball with perfectly-weighted long passes. He had all the tools in the shed.
Yet, while players in the mould of Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and, most notably since the turn of the millennium, Cristiano Ronaldo have been at the club, the headlines have avoided the Salford-born midfield in favour of these flare players with eye-catching abilities – and this suited Scholes, with his quiet demeanour and desire for privacy, down to the ground.
Currently, at Crystal Palace, something quite similar is happening. As teen sensation and Arsenal target, Wilfred Zaha, claims the plaudits for his scintillating performances in the Championship (followed closely by Yannick Bolasie on the other flank), Glenn Murray goes relatively unnoticed by people outside Selhurst Park despite scoring the goals which have fired The Eagles into an automatic promotion place.
That’s not to say that Manchester United and Paul Scholes are in any way comparable to Crystal Palace and Glenn Murray. Scholes, for instance, has been lauded by Ronaldo himself, as well as modern greats such as Barcelona maestro Xavi Hernandez; the latter actually describing Scholes as ‘the most complete central midfielder of the past 20 years’ (Source: The Daily Mail).
Also, particularly in today’s game, it’s impossible to envisage Murray, already 29 years old, making anywhere near the 700-plus appearances for Palace as Scholes has for United, especially when he’s only on 55 at the moment.
However, those 55 appearances have brought with them 24 goals, and Murray deserves a lot of praise – more than he gets at least – given his form this season. Previosuly, plenty of attention was given to Burnley’s Charlie Austin when he was scoring at a rate faster than Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, with several Premier League clubs supposedly tracking his progress, but only one goal in his last six starts has seen him fade away slightly.
Murray, on the other hand, has scored ten in his last seven appearances and his goal last weekend against Blackpool moved him joint-top of the Championship’s leading scorers, tied with Austin on 18 goals. Still the headlines remain firmly on Zaha, 20, and his potential £15million switch to The Gunners and, just as it did for Scholes, this suits Murray and Palace perfectly. (Source: The Sun)
Although £15million is a gigantic sum of money to spend on prospective talent, Eagles’ boss Ian Holloway may not want to sell Zaha so soon, and Zaha himself would be wise to heed the story of John Bostock, another talented youngster who left Palace too soon: Bostock became Palace’s youngest ever player in October 2007 at 15-years-old, then shortly after moved to Tottenham in 2008, and is currently rebuilding his career at Swindon Town after making only a handful of first-team appearances for Spurs.
Despite this, it would be unsurprising to see Zaha leave Palace before next season regardless of what league they are in.
If Saturday’s post-match comments are anything to go by though, Holloway would be extremely disappointed to see Murray leave, which is why it is beneficial that the attention surrounds Zaha.
Holloway said: “Glenn has never been given the credit he deserves as a footballer. I can’t tell you how good the boy is, I’m not kidding you. What he does for the team is just awesome, and the boy deserves a chance to play at the highest level. Nothing will stop me trying to get there.” (Source: The Telegraph).
Clearly, Holloway feels Murray can do a job for Palace next season if they get promoted, and although the speculation surrounding Zaha may seem destructive, in allowing one player to go unnoticed and avoid the spotlight, it’s certainly not without its uses.
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