Wilfried Zaha is already 'encountering problems' at Lyon as manager discusses 'fining' winger

Wilfried Zaha is already “encountering problems” at Lyon, it has been claimed.

The former Crystal Palace star joined Lyon on loan this summer, after a topsy-turvy first campaign with Turkish giants Galatasaray.

Since moving to France however, the Ivory Coast international has struggled to settle, having made just two appearances for the club, including one start in League 1.

Zaha is competing with a spate of attackers for a place in Pierre Sage’s starting line-up including the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Georges Mikautadze, Gift Orban, Malick Fofana, Ernest Nuamah, Rayan Cherki and Said Benrahma.

Amid such competition, Sage has asked for more from the winger, who made 458 appearances across two spells for Palace and gained legendary status at the club.

“I had a good discussion with him last week regarding the problems that we have encountered,” began the Lyon manager, speaking on RMC’s After Foot.

“The idea isn’t to fine him for the sake of fining him. The idea is simply for him to be aware of what we expect from him at our club and I said he needs to understand that we recruited Wilfried Zaha, so we would like to have Wilfried Zaha.”

Zaha registered an assist in his first Lyon appearance (Getty)

Sage did stress that Zaha was not match fit upon arriving to Lyon late in the transfer window.

He said: “He arrived not fully match fit, but we quickly integrated him into the first team despite everything. He claimed an assist in his first appearance.

“It’s what came after that was less good but it has nothing to do with his abilities as a player but his capacity to live with this team.”

Zaha had a peculiar first campaign in Turkey, falling down the pecking order despite scoring 10 goals in all competitions and helping Galatasaray win the league title.