Eberechi Eze for England? Go on, Gareth – take the gliding Eagle with you to Qatar

John Nicholson
Crystal Palace attacker Eberechi Eze.

Eberechi Eze is reportedly on the long – very long – list of England players in contention for the World Cup. Johnny Nic urges Gareth Southgate to take a chance.

Here’s What’s So Great about the Palace baller…

 

Who’s this then?
Eberechi Oluchi Eze is a 5ft 8in, Greenwich-born, 24-year-old progressive midfielder-striker for Crystal Palace who is on the verge of the England squad and scored a fine, well-judged header against Wolves in his most recent game.

Born in the ‘not nice’ area of Greenwich, as a kid he grew up playing football in the cages as well as playing youth football at Arsenal from 2006–2011, then Fulham, Reading and Millwall, where he signed a two-year scholarship making good progress through the under age and reserves sides. However, he wasn’t offered a contract by the club, so went for a trial at QPR, impressed and was offered the gig. There was a six-month loan period at Wycombe Wanderers to get him more game time. He turned out 104 times for QPR scoring 20 goals from 2016 to 2020.

His form attracted the attention of Crystal Palace who put £17million in used fivers under the QPR front door and took him to Selhurst Park on a five-year deal. Since that time he’s been one of their best players, really coming into his own under Patrick Vieira’s iteration of the team, playing a more front-foot, progressive and exciting game.

In May 2021 Gareth Southgate called him up to the senior England squad before the Euros. He’d been playing for England at Under-18 and Under-21 levels and was weighing up whether to play for England or Nigeria when the call from Gareth came. However, literally as the call the came, he ruptured an Achilles in training and had to withdraw, or he may have made it into the final squad.

This season has started well and it looks like he’s coming into some peak form, now enjoying a run of fitness having got over that serious injury.

 

Why the love?
He’s a liquid mercury type of player who seems to glide across the grass almost without touching it. It’s a remarkable thing really. Some players seem to have such a light step that they float and Eze is definitely one of those.

He’s also got the sort of sizzling pace that fans love to see from the terraces burning up the turf. I’ve long maintained that people who go to watch football can get a different perspective on players to those who only see them on TV. This is especially true of players who do a lot of off-the-ball running, which cameras tend not to pick up. But when you’re in the stands, you get a widescreen view of what is really happening.

He’s played in various positions so far in his career  and scored goals with both feet, which proves his flexibility but also perhaps that managers haven’t always known where to deploy his talent. He’s been an attacking midfielder, played on the left, right and centrally. He’s had spells on left and right wing and has even played centre-forward a couple of times.  There’s two ways of seeing this. Being able to play all over the pitch means you’re flexible and adaptable, but it also means you have no actual defined role in the team, no specialist position. Hard to know which is the best place to find yourself really. It would certainly be a problem for Southgate. Where would he play for England?

What is so striking about Eze are partly his close control and abilities on the ball – he is a superb long-mazy-run-and-score-type of player – but also how he finds and uses space. That goal against Wolves this week was a great example of that, sneaking in unmarked at the back post to make a deft header across the goalie.

He’s pretty good from dead balls too and he does that heart-stopping penalty stutter rather successfully. He’s scored 32 goals in 200 games so far and perhaps more significantly, made 22 assists.

 

Three great moments
This sort of long mazy run to score is what every fan loves…


A huge variety of strikes from the lad here, including free kicks and those stutter penalties…


His latest goal against Wolves…


Future days?
His contract at Palace runs until 2025 so the questions will soon start to be asked if his next move will be up to a club playing in Europe. He’s still only valued at around £22million which would make him an absolute bargain. However, the next step must surely be to get into the England squad for the World Cup. If he becomes a regular international, not only will his value rise, so will the interest from bigger clubs.

Of course, the problem is, the higher up you go, the less football you might get, the more competition there is for your place. Of course, people back themselves to be able to claim their place but football is littered with great players who get lost by the wayside once getting transferred to a big club. If he stays mid-table at Palace, he will, like Wilf Zaha become a fan favourite, play every week and probably have a more fulfilling career. Hard to balance those two pathways out. I would suggest that a big move would be dependent on the prospective manager having a definite idea of where they would like to play the Palace man, rather than using him as a kind of progressive utility player.

With two assists and two goals to his name so far this season, he is making a consistent impression for Palace. The Achilles snappage definitely interrupted his progress up the ladder and maybe he’s only really getting back to the top of the sort of form he showed at QPR.

Players with his ability don’t come along too often. At 24, he’s now coming into his peak years. I think he’s got to start scoring a lot more goals in order to really push himself to the forefront. Now is the time to step up and really impress with consistently great performances. He’s clearly got the talent and he’s playing on a stage and in a side where that talent can really shine.  Such an exciting player, it’ll be fascinating to see how his career develops.

What’s So Great About… Karim Benzema | Ivan Toney | Luis Diaz