Jean-Philippe Mateta has left Wilfried Zaha livid.
The Crystal Palace legend hit out at the Frenchman after Mateta said Zaha mocked his dream of playing for France – despite the Ivorian claiming as many as ten Crystal Palace players at the time were doubtful.
The Charlotte No.10 even called his old teammate “nasty” and “disgusting” for bringing negative attention to his door.
Loic Tanzi, the journalist who actually carried out the interview with Jean-Philippe Mateta, has now shared his view on the feud with Wilfried Zaha.
Loic Tanzi insists “no controversy to be had” in Jean-Philippe Mateta and Wilfried Zaha clash
The L’Equipe journalist wrote on X (previously known as Twitter): “Having done the interview, Jean-Philippe Mateta wasn’t saying that meanly about Zaha, but rather in the spirit (of) ‘I believed in it when no one else did’. No controversy to be had.”
Pour avoir fait l’interview, Jean-Philippe Mateta ne disait pas ça méchamment à propos de Zaha, mais plutôt dans l’esprit : “J’y croyais quand personne n’y croyait.” Pas de polémique à avoir. https://t.co/yLXc3EcB39
— Loïc Tanzi (@Tanziloic) October 16, 2025
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If you are yet to see what the Crystal Palace No.14 actually said, his comments can be found below.
“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 teammates like Wilfried Zaha who were laughing. They said that I was mad to think about the France team when I wasn’t even playing at Crystal Palace.”
In our eyes, the fiery response from Zaha – who also slammed Brede Hangeland in the past – was simply a result of years of rough treatment in the media spilling over.
The Ivory Coast international had unfairly been branded a diver throughout his time in the Premier League, while he often faced accusations of being a flop at Manchester United – despite David Moyes only giving him four games to prove himself.
Therefore, you can understand why Mateta using his name in a negative manner has triggered such a disgusted response.
Ultimately, the France international ought to come out and defend Zaha, considering the fact the 32-year-old has now filmed three separate reaction videos to the comments, and it is clearly getting to him.
Wilfried Zaha actually congratulated Jean-Philippe Mateta before public spat occurred
Zaha was initially pleased for Mateta after his recognition from Didier Deschamps, sending the striker two heart-eye emojis (😍) on Instagram upon hearing the news.
Photo by Antonio Borga/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
That was before all hell broke loose in the media amid accusations of Zaha being a bad teammate, which have evidently hurt the Crystal Palace academy graduate.
Hopefully, he and Mateta can put this situation behind them, as it all feels rather childish in the grand scheme of things.