Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson thinks winger Wilfried Zaha is still capable of playing for Manchester United.

Palace will be squaring off against United in the final of the FA Cup this weekend and one player who will be desperate to perform well during the clash is winger Zaha.

Zaha was unceremoniously dumped by United a couple of seasons ago but he has managed to find his form at Palace and will surely be looking to prove a point against his former employers.

Pardew has been full of praise for the 23-year-old ahead of the clash and has revealed that Ferguson still rates the young winger as good enough to play for the Red Devils.

Pardew said: "I know that Sir Alex Ferguson still feels that he is a Man Utd player. He can beat players for fun, he has a great physique. There's a lot going on there. (He's) probably an unfinished talent.

"He wants to be training, he loves it, he actually lives and dies by football. But then there is a part of him which wants it to be about him. And if it ain't about him, why are we doing it? When you are not in the team and he was at Man Utd, that might have been an issue for him and the manager and the staff.

"I have tried to understand that with him and tried to educate him, that he has to do things in training that might not necessarily be around him. He has got better at that. He also doesn't react well to disappointment, he sometimes take a while to kick back into gear.

"This is a young player, who has great talent. He is learning a lot this year. He is the player of the year. There is a reason for that.

"Sometimes he still wanders around in training a little bit and I have to kick him up the bum or throw something at him. You have to understand this guy is 23: some players take longer to progress."