Crystal Palace’s head of sport science Scott Guyett says that Wilfried Zaha has an “incredible ability” to return to full fitness quicker than most players, and is “probably the best athlete” he has ever worked with. Zaha made 29 starts in the Premier League last season, with a further appearance as a substitute after recovering from a thigh injury that meant him missing a month of action in February. Guyett, who was recently recognised for over a decade of work at Palace with the Chairman’s Award for Outstanding Contribution, says that the 28-year-old has “an incredible ability” to get back to full fitness quicker than most players.
Scott Guyett said: “He probably does, Wilf. I mean I’ve known Wilf for a long time now. Probably the best athlete I think I’ve ever worked with. I don’t know what it is but he’s just, he’s got this ability to just keep going and keep going. He has an incredible aerobic capacity so he can run. I think he could be a sprinter, or a long distance runner. You know a lot of players have one or the other, they’re sprinter or they’re a long distance runner whereas Wilfried can actually do both very very well. And the thing with Wilf is he just loves playing football, so when you’re going into that rehab process, Wilfried very often doesn’t really want to do it. He just wants to be out there playing five sides with the boys. So Wilf is one of those that – [an injury that] would take sometimes a player three to four weeks to get back – Wilf would get back in two weeks, two and a half weeks. I think it’s an incredible ability and sometimes I just think Wilf has a very, very high pain threshold.”
