Crystal Palace immortalise club legend Wilfried Zaha with giant mural outside Selhurst Park… as the south London side celebrate one of their greatest players of all time as his contract ticks down this summer
- Crystal Palace have unveiled a huge mural of Wilfried Zaha outside Selhurst Park
- The club have commissioned the piece to immortalise in paint the club legend
- Mural of three iconic goal celebrations is a stones’ throw from where he grew up
Wilfried Zaha has been immortalised in paint in celebration of his service to Crystal Palace.
The Eagles have honoured their long-serving local hero – whose contract expires this summer – and one of their greatest players, by commissioning a mural of Zaha on the wall of a house a stones’ throw away from Selhurst Park and where he grew up.
The work of art was created by MurWalls led by Marc Silver and his team, who have become the go-to street artists and worked with clubs, players and fans across Europe, and designed in conjunction with Zaha and Palace.
Together they looked through over 30 memorable images from Zaha’s career before selecting the most striking for the final product, which the 30-year-old unveiled, alongside chairman Steve Parish and manager Roy Hodgson, and signed on Friday.
The mural contains a collage of Palace’s No11 along with the words ‘Zaha, oh yes!’ the commentary line that accompanied his second goal in one of his greatest games in Eagles colours, the 2013 play-off semi-final against Brighton.
Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha has been immortalised in paint with a mural in south London
The mural was unveiled by chairman Steve Parish (left) and manager Roy Hodgson on Friday
The mural was created by MurWalls led by Marc Silver and his team, now go-to street artists
Silver, 46, whose team completed the impressive mural for Tottenham star Harry Kane before heading across London to start on Zaha’s, said: ‘People get regarded as legends normally when they’re no longer around or not playing anymore.
‘For me, you need to be a living legend. You need to be celebrated and Zaha comes into that legendary status while still playing for the club.’
Silver started MurWalls in 2019, beginning by securing licensing agreements to work officially with clubs to carry out football-themed bedroom makeovers. One of his first was a gift to young Tottenham fan Ella Markham after she was targeted by trolls on social media.
Covid brought MurWalls’ internal work to a halt but sparked the idea of starting exterior projects with a mural to mark Liverpool’s historic 2020 title triumph among the early projects.
They have continued to grow since, expanding their portfolio with jobs for TV companies such as the BBC, a host of clubs, at live events, in different sports and fields including film, music – with Sir Elton John one star who enlisted their services – and toys.
Liverpool are among the clubs they have worked closely with and a bedroom for Steven Gerrard’s son was one of the tasks undertaken along with murals for the likes of Roberto Firmino and John Barnes.
Silver worked with Palace earlier in the campaign and added: ‘When Maxi Jazz from Faithless passed away, he was a non-executive director at the club, we painted him inside the club and that went absolutely crazy, in terms of the reaction.
‘We know how much the fans appreciated that. We know that they’re going to love this one for Zaha as well.’
Zaha put his signature on the work of art as fans watched on a stone’s throw from Selhurst Park
