Cote d’Ivoire and Crystal Palace winger Wilfred Zaha has vehemently denied rumours of an affair with the daughter of David Moyes.
The 27-year-old was rumoured to be sleeping with the Scottish manager’s daughter, Lauren, during his stint with Manchester United.
Reports from some quarters even attributed the player’s lack of game time at Old Trafford to the alleged incident.
Under Moyes, Zaha made just four appearances in the 2013/14 season and consequently secured a loan move to Cardiff City for the rest of the season.
According to him, the rumours often proved to be damaging, but he had little support from Manchester United.
In a chat with Red Devils legend Rio Ferdinand, Zaha said “No one at the club at all told me anything, I didn’t know what to do whatsoever.
“I remember tweeting something about it saying ‘silly rumours’ because it was getting too much, so I had to say something myself and then I remember the club media messaging me saying ‘you shouldn’t have done that, you shouldn’t have done this’ and I’m thinking ‘you haven’t helped me.’
“I’m here by myself, struggling because people are telling me I’ve slept with the manager’s daughter and that’s why you’re not playing me.”
Currently playing for Crystal Palace, the Ivory Coast international said dealing with such rumours as a teenager was “stressful”.
“It was stressful. I’m 19, I’m living in Manchester and all of a sudden we come back from a tour and I’m not playing for no reason so obviously [people] are going to make up rumours,” he narrated.
“People came out with it, I see it trending on Twitter, people came out with how can he play so well on tour then just be dashed out like that with nothing, no one telling us anything – he must have slept with the manager’s daughter.
“And that started going and I’m 19, and my Twitter is blowing up. I’ve never had it before and my Twitter is blowing up and there’s no one for me to speak to,” Zaha added.
