Zaha deal delights David

Wilfried Zaha's arrival is not only exciting for Manchester United's future, it maintains a tradition of the present and past.
That's the view of David Gill, who signed Zaha in his last transfer deal before announcing he will step down as chief executive on 30 June. He points out the former Crystal Palace winger will increase the Reds' quota of England internationals, a core favoured by both Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby.
“It’s quite interesting that we recently had five players in the England team, which is good for us," says Gill, in the club's official new book Champions 20/13.
"The backbone of Manchester United has always been this way. Sir Matt Busby had it and Sir Alex [Ferguson] has nurtured it himself; this mix between British or English players and foreigners, and that’s what this club is about."
Zaha was immediately loaned back to Palace after his January sale to United was completed, enabling him to help the Eagles secure promotion back to the Barclays Premier League via last month's Championship play-off final.
“Seeing where our squad was at, it wasn’t appropriate to bring him in during January," said Gill. "It was better for him to continue playing with Palace before joining us in the summer. So we did a deal and that was a precondition, really. We were very happy when we spoke to the chairman of Palace that it was only to be done on that basis.
“He’s a player we knew and Sir Alex had been following. We’d seen him and we were
scouting him a lot in the Championship – a lot of teams were – and we just felt that because of his age, his potential and what he can bring to Manchester United it was the right thing to do – even if he’s still quite raw in a lot of respects, as a young man.
"It’s going to be a big learning curve for him [Zaha], he knows that. I think he’s going to be an exciting Manchester United player; that’s our view. He’s something different. He can beat a man, he can play in the middle or wide. It’s a great signing for us."

David Gill was speaking exclusively to Champions 20|13: How We Got The Title Back. The club's official diary of the season is on sale from 7 June.