When Jean-Philippe Mateta earned his first France cap earlier this month. And the Crystal Palace striker hoped to celebrate a long-awaited personal milestone. Instead, his proudest week unexpectedly stirred a public dispute involving one of the club’s biggest former stars, Wilfried Zaha. <\/p>
In an interview with L’Equipe, Mateta reflected on his early Palace days. He admitted that not everyone believed he could reach international level. He recalled that some teammates laughed when he spoke about representing France. He named Zaha to be among them. Mateta said:<\/p>
“At Crystal Palace, right at the start, when I wasn’t even playing, I spoke about the France team in the dressing room and I had team-mates like Wilfried Zaha who were laughing. They said that I was mad to think about the France team when I wasn’t even playing.”<\/em><\/strong> The Frenchman, however, stressed that his ambition never wavered.<\/p>