Digesting Zaha's departure

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After four months with Wilfried Zaha’s future hanging in the balance, he and Charlotte FC ripped off the Band-Aid. Zaha announced his departure on Instagram on Sunday morning, which was followed a few short hours by Charlotte FC’s official “Thank You, Zaha” announcement.

Zaha highlights were nowhere to be found in the club’s postgame content from Saturday’s win over New England, Charlotte’s last game before the two-month World Cup break. His face was gone from the team’s online roster page within days. And Thursday, Jorge Gonzalez of TopBin90.com reported that Charlotte FC is already in advanced talks for a replacement, in 29-year-old French winger Allan Saint-Maximin, who made a name for himself at Newcastle United.

Pardon us, though, if we still need to process.

As followers of Charlotte FC, we all had a feeling Patrick Agyemang wasn’t ours anymore by the time England’s Derby County came calling.

We got to say a long goodbye last season to center back Adilson Malanda.

Charlotte’s original designated player, Karol Swiderski, was like the on again-off again breakup that feels merciful when it’s over.

But Zaha, Charlotte FC’s most legitimate designated player to date, was officially gone a month before his loan expires June 30. The wondering-what-just-happened phase is still fresh.

Negotiations to sign Zaha to a long-term deal opened in February when his agents came to town. According to both Zaha and the club, talks remained “active” through the month of April. But no announcement came, eventually Zaha quit addressing the media, and his wife let slip on social media that they were counting down the days until leaving Charlotte.

Contract talks never seemed to get off the ground. The hunch here is Zaha wanted to be paid as he would be overseas; Charlotte FC wanted him to fit into the salary structure that made sense at his age, 33, and to their overall club — both their current players and future — so he’s gone.

Here’s what Charlotte FC general manager Zoran Krneta had to say about it in the club release:

Zaha leaves with his career resurrected, after limited playing time in his past two stops. Maybe he lands in Saudi Arabia or another club in Europe. It’ll be interesting to see what’s next, for him and for Charlotte.

Charlotte FC’s fanbase seems somewhat divided between “we’re doomed” and “good riddance.” Such is the polarization of a player who arrived with supreme talent and a chip on his shoulder.

Zaha scored 13 goals and had 14 assists in 46 games, including the playoffs, and leaves as Charlotte’s fifth all-time leader in goal contributions (27). He was also easily frustrated — by referees, hard fouls and teammates missing passes. His emotional outbursts toward officials ran amok at times, especially last season, when he got two yellow cards in the regular season finale. That meant Zaha had to sit out the critical first game of the three-game playoff series against New York City FC. By losing the first game at home, Charlotte was in a difficult spot and ultimately lost the series.

Not to say MLS officiating isn’t partially responsible, and Zaha was among MLS leaders in fouls drawn throughout his time here. But Charlotte FC had to play another big game without him this season, on the road at Eastern Conference-leading Nashville, because of yellow card accumulation.

If there’s any consolation to his departure now, perhaps, it’s that nobody has to hold a collective breath. The club always publicly defended Zaha, but you have to wonder if his outbursts were starting to wear internally.

Love him or leave him, though, Zaha’s contributions to the offense are undeniable. A search through each goal Charlotte FC scored in its first 15 league games this season before the World Cup break revealed that Charlotte has scored 18 goals in open play (not via set piece) with Zaha in the lineup. He either scored, assisted or advanced the ball within three passes of those goals nine times. That’s half of the time.

Attacking midfielder Pep Biel is actually Charlotte FC’s highest-paid player at $3 million in guaranteed compensation (vs. Zaha’s $2.75 million on the spring books). And this season so far, Biel has been more productive — 13 goal contributions to Zaha’s seven — but Zaha was the only player who could take on two or three defenders at once and still have a decent chance to work the ball past, and through, them. Zaha also drew defenders away from Biel.

If Charlotte is able to sign Saint-Maximin to fill Zaha’s designated player spot, it would give the club another dynamic dribbler with a proven Premier League pedigree. Saint-Maximin spent four seasons with Newcastle United.

He has not been the prolific goal scorer Zaha is, reaching double digits in goal contributions just once in the past five seasons. But he’s younger, at 29, and back on solid footing with Champions League-bound Lens of France’s Ligue 1. A successful stint in his native France comes after he made one-year stops in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Liga MX of Mexico.

The summer transfer window doesn’t open until a week before the World Cup final. Charlotte FC can reach agreements with players earlier, but they’re not eligible to play until the window opens July 12. It remains open until Sept. 2, aligning with the global soccer calendar for the first time in 20 years. Though Coach Dean Smith said recently he’s encouraging Charlotte FC’s front office to bring in players as early as possible.

Charlotte FC’s season resumes July 22 against Atlanta United, with the first of 19 games remaining on the MLS schedule.

Meanwhile, Charlotte FC faithful can take some inspiration from one of the farewell comments on Zaha’s Instagram post.

“Show must go on,” wrote Zaha’s friend and former Crystal Palace teammate Christian Benteke, who was the MLS leading scorer two years ago for DC United.

Yes, it must, for Zaha and for Charlotte FC.

The U.S. men’s national team takes on Senegal at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Bank of America Stadium, with Charlotte FC center back Tim Ream playing host for the short trip in and out of town. The U.S. is practicing for its last two pre-World Cup exhibitions in Atlanta at Arthur Blank’s new state-of-the-art U.S. Soccer National Training Center facility.

A key figure will be missing this Sunday, though, for Charlotte FC faithful who’d been hoping to cheer on Patrick Agyemang in his return to town. Agyemang was poised to make the World Cup roster before rupturing his Achilles on April 6 in Derby County’s game against Stoke City.

The former Charlotte FC striker had scored 10 goals with his new club in the English Championship. And all signs pointed to a spot on the World Cup roster. Agyemang scored six goals in 14 appearances with the U.S. Men’s National team after Mauricio Pochettino called him up in January of 2025.

Agyemang scored his last goal for the U.S. in a 6-2 exhibition loss to Belgium on March 28 in Atlanta.

Ream, who met with local media before Charlotte’s last game against New England, said he exchanged text messages with Agyemang shortly after the injury.

“Terrible,” Ream said. “Seeing him in March, the way he was playing, the way he was moving was, it was really impressive. And (the U.S. coaches) were really happy with him, so that's a tough one to take.”

Ream said he assured Agyemang he’s had teammates come back from ruptured Achilles.

“You do the rehab right, surround yourself with the right people, there's no reason he can't come back and be the same player that he was before,” Ream said. “The thing for him is being the same person. If he can keep the attitude and the positivity that he always has, walking around with a smile, believe it or not, he'll heal quicker than he even realized.”

Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her fifth season covering Charlotte FC. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!