Crystal Palace have immortalized club legend Wilfried Zaha with a giant mural outside Selhurst Park… as the south London side celebrate one of their greatest players of all time as his contract expires today summer
- Crystal Palace unveiled a large mural of Wilfried Zaha outside Selhurst Park
- The club commissioned the piece to immortalize the club’s legend in paint
- The mural of three iconic goal celebrations is a stone’s throw from where he grew up
Wilfried Zaha has been immortalized in paint in celebration of his service at Crystal Palace.
The Eagles have honored their long-serving local hero – whose contract expires this summer – and one of their best players, by creating a mural of Zaha on the wall of a home away from home. Selhurst Park and where he grew up.
The artwork was created by MurWalls led by Marc Silver and his team, who have been street artists and have worked with clubs, players and fans across Europe, and was designed in conjunction with Zaha and Palace.
Together they looked at more than 30 memorable images from Zaha’s career before choosing the most striking for the final product.
The mural contains a collage of Palace’s No11 along with the words ‘Zaha, oh yes!’ the line of commentary that accompanied his second goal in one of his best games in Eagles colours, the 2013 play-off semi-final against Brighton.
Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha has been immortalized in a mural painting 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, who are now street artists
Silver, 46, whose team completed the impressive mural for Tottenham star Harry Kane before heading to London to start Zaha’s, said: ‘People are usually considered legends when they’re gone or not playing anymore
‘For me, you have to be a living legend. You have to celebrate and Zaha arrived at legendary status while still playing for the club.’
Silver started MurWalls in 2019, starting by securing licensing agreements to officially work with clubs to perform 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 halted MurWalls’ interior work but sparked the idea of starting exterior projects with a mural to mark Liverpool’s historic title win in 2020 over earlier projects.
They have continued to grow ever since, expanding their portfolio to work for TV companies such as the BBC, a host of clubs, live events, sports and fields including film, music – with Sir Elton John a star who hired their services – and toys.
Liverpool are among the clubs they have worked closely with and a bedroom for Steven Gerrard’s son is one of the works carried out alongside murals for the likes of Roberto Firmino and John Barnes.
Silver worked with Palace early in the campaign and added: ‘When Maxi Jazz passed away from Faithless, he was a non-executive director at the club, we painted him inside the club and it was crazy, in terms of the reaction.
‘We know how much the fans appreciate that. We know they’ll love this one for Zaha too.’
Zaha put his signature on the work of art as fans watched in a snap from Selhurst Park
News/Image Sources: Daily Mail
