Zaba really is "THE ****** man". I remember being impressed that City had signed an Argentine full back and expected to see a rugged, ruthless, hard tackling column of granite! In his debut against Chelsea he was somewhat overshadowed by Robinho's first appearance - but what a contrast in attitude and application that turned out to be! At first Zaba had a tendency to dive in to tackles and this led to some trouble, notably his sending off against the scousers when we led 2-1 but lost 3-2 in the end. But his level of commitment, his ceaseless effort and his unflagging energy were something we hadn't seen in a City shirt for years, and this was typified by his first goal for the club - the winner at home to Wigan, for which he ran through everything (including a brick wall had there been one!) before hitting a screamer into the net. Then he showed his defensive qualities to defend the lead after Dunny had been sent off virtually straight from the kick off. The thing that really impressed, though, was his determination to improve. At the end of his first 2 or 3 seasons there were always those who thought he was "just a squad player" and would lose his place in the team, but every season Zaba came back and was better than ever. We all knew that what we'd actually got was one of the best attacking full backs in the world as the Argentine national team soon acknowledged. It says something that Tony Pulis said that Zaba was the best attacking full back he'd ever seen! Obviously, no-one will ever forget the opening goal in the game against QPR or the world cup final of 2014, in which Zaba, along with our other Argentine lads came within a whisker of winning the world cup.
Zaba is a credit to himself, his family, our club and the game. I thank him for all he has done at City, it really won't be the same without him and wish him the best for the future. He is "simply the best. Better than all the rest."
