Ex-Premier League star SLAMS Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta for a ‘disgusting’ interview

Last Updated on 16 October 2025

France celebrating their new goalscoring debutant has now been linked to a lighthearted dressing-room chat from years ago.

That drama has exploded into a public feud, and it involves a current Crystal Palace star as well as an Eagles legend of recent years.

Jean-Philippe Mateta made his debut for France against Azerbaijan before scoring his first goal for the national side against Iceland.

Wilfried Zaha fires back at ‘disgusting’ comments from Jean-Philippe Mateta

After making his debut for France, Crystal Palace star, Mateta, spoke about how many people, including his teammates at Palace, had doubted his ambition to play for the national side.

“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,” said Mateta.

L’Equipe quoted the 28-year-old striker saying, “They said that I was mad to think about the France team when I wasn’t even playing at Crystal Palace. But I responded saying that it was my objective and that I simply had to play to show what I could do.”

However, Crystal Palace legend, Wilfried Zaha, responded with fire of his own, clarifying his intentions.

“Everyone knows me, the only time on a pitch is when I’m passionate and all of that stuff but I never bullied someone or said someone won’t make it here or won’t make it at all or nothing like that.”

He shot back saying, “It’s disgusting when I see someone who I thought was a friend do that.”

The 32-year-old believes he was singled out when there were ’10 other players’ saying the same thing.

Zaha pointed out, “The conversation that was had was his chances of playing for France way back when he wasn’t playing for Palace. And there were 10 players that he had this conversation with and as friends, we laughed it off but we were joking around.”

He added, “It is going to be difficult, especially with Benzema all these different players playing in those positions. But we never ever once said ‘you’re never going to make it.'”

Jean-Philippe Mateta’s late-career form shows it’s never too late to make it

Football is a cut-throat industry, especially if you want to play at the highest level. If you are 20 and still playing in the French second division, odds are against you reaching the top.

However, Mateta’s career has been an outlier. The French striker was playing for Le Havre in Ligue 2 at 20 years of age. But the next eight years were nothing short of a rollercoaster for the Crystal Palace man.

He secured a move to Bundesliga outfit, Mainz 05, becoming the most expensive signing in club history. Mateta would go on to impress for the German side, scoring regularly. As a result, three years later, he secured a loan move to the Premier League with Crystal Palace.

The initial two years for Mateta were tough to say the least. He rarely got opportunities to impress but things changed dramatically for the Frenchman in the 2023-24 season.

He started the campaign with a lot of promise and it came at the perfect time, too. Crystal Palace replaced Roy Hodgson with Oliver Glasner and Mateta fast became his preferred no.9.

In the 2023-24 season, Mateta became the Crystal Palace Player of the Year. He earned that after scoring 16 goals in the Premier League. And, then he scored 14 more in the 2024-25 campaign, earning his first call-up for France at 28 defying all odds.

Amidst all the young superstars dominating the world of football, it’s amazing to see players peaking late into their careers.