With Kai Havertz suffering another untimely injury, Arsenal jumped at the chance to make Crystal Palace playmaker Eberechi Eze their seventh(!) summer signing. But who is the England international, what will he bring to the side and why is he costing (up to) £67.5 million?
Phil Costa reports.
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Football is often described as the beautiful game, but those with a view behind the curtain will know it’s unashamedly ruthless. For millions of hopefuls playing organised youth football, being good enough to make an elite academy is one thing but staying the course is another; only about 0.012% of them will play a single minute of Premier League football in their careers – which roughly translates to 180 players.
More than half of those 1.5 million players won’t even be in academy football by the time they turn 16, and 70% of them won’t even see a professional contract at all. Lifelong dreams can become nightmares in the blink of an eye. Your whole world rocked without warning.
Just ask Eberechi Eze, who, aged 13 and with tears in his eyes, tasted rejection for the first time after being told he wouldn’t make the grade at Arsenal – the club he was desperate to play for. He then spent the next three years being let go by Fulham, Reading and Milwall, before unsuccessful trials at Bristol City and Sunderland soon followed. But 14 years later, he’s back where it all started and donning the famous number ten shirt – having wowed thousands of fans along the way.
So what made Arsenal and Mikel Arteta pull the trigger? Yes, the injury to Kai Havertz may have sped things up but the club were serious about this player earlier in the summer and according to the manager, were always ready to step in and save him from serious harm. But like the other forward signings this summer, Eze provides a welcome antidote to some of the sides’ struggles from last season which are being remedied with efficiency.
To quote one of the most influential songwriters in recent times, Lil Jon, SHOTS! Through design or otherwise, Arsenal often feel like a Goldilocks team where everything has to be juussstt right to take a shot; on your preferred foot, having taken a touch, with time to settle and no defenders in sight. Adding Eze (who averaged 3.5 shots per 90 last term) to Noni Madueke (3.6 per 90) and Viktor Gyokeres (4.1 per 90) feels very pointed. These guys don’t mess around and have no issues going for goal should opportunities arise. Those three players averaged more shots per game than any other Arsenal player last term, and took 356 shots between them across all competitions alone.
What makes the 27-year-old such an exciting prospect is not only the volume of shots he takes, but where those shots are taken from. I have long felt that central areas (just outside the penalty area in particular) are where Arsenal attacks go to die. We mostly focus our play through wide areas – primarily because our best player is out there – but it’s also easier to create overloads against isolated fullbacks, away from congested penalty areas with six huge defenders in your way.
Despite playing primarily from the left, all but one of his 102 shots came within the width of the penalty area and more than half of them were taken from outside the box. That may frustrate people in the era of efficiency and high-quality chance creation (some will go flying into the stands), but for me it shows a willingness to leave your position, try things and create your own opportunities, instead of relying on others for service. These strikes against Fulham and Aston Villa are good examples of that.
Adding more central threat is not only needed from an output standpoint, but will also vacate space and free up others when opposition defenders are scared of what different players can do – not just Bukayo Saka.
And sure, shots are fun, but have you seen this man carry the ball? It’s what makes Eze pop, the ease with which he can evade pressure, bypass challenges and everything in between; how effortlessly those gears change, how his hips swing, the nuance in his game about when to slow people down before putting the afterburners on – it almost looks like he’s gliding across the pitch before you realise he’s suddenly created ten yards of separation from a player that was just beside him.
Since joining Crystal Palace five years ago, Eze leads the Premier League for successful take-ons (212) alongside Mohammed Kudus. In that same timeframe, just 13 players rank ahead of him for total shots following a ball carry, and only four of them (Jarrod Bowen, Ollie Watkins, Harvey Barnes and Wilfried Zaha) haven’t played for a traditional big six club. Saka is the only Arsenal player in that list to feature above him. Only Jeremy Doku (3.7) and Kudus (2.7) could beat his 2.3 successful dribbles per 90 last season.
He and Madueke both bring much-needed directness and proactivity, although Eze operates in a silk robe to the soundtrack of smooth jazz, while Madueke thrives in the chaos of a deafening drum solo. Their aesthetics are wildly different, too, but unpredictability is the name of the game here – aesthetics don’t put the ball in the back of the net.
One of the main criticisms levelled towards Arteta and this iteration of Arsenal is that they are risk-averse, mechanical and too structured in attack. That they lack mavericks and individuals who are willing to go off piste and break the mould; especially when it comes to unlocking deep defences. I can confidently say we’ve got one of those players in our squad right now – and that’s Riccardo Calafiori – but beyond that I’m struggling.
Saka plays with surgical precision, Declan Rice crashes the box, while Gyokeres and Madueke join Gabriel Martinelli as powerful, aggressive runners. Eze can hold his own physically but plays with a joy, craft and elegance that was formed in the cages of south-east London and gets people out of their seats. He feels a responsibility to entertain in an increasingly measured game, combining flair with end product that doesn’t always come naturally to this group.
It’s why I never understood the chatter about where he will play, or who he will play ahead of – Eze will play because he’s good. He will play because he offers this current group qualities they are lacking and more importantly, Eze is fun – and football is supposed to be fun. Our (excellent) defensive shape and structure can accommodate one more maverick without everything falling to pieces. I promise.
Naturally, to play under Arteta you need to be switched on defensively – regardless of your role or standing in the side. It’s quite difficult to judge Eze because he’s afforded a free role at Crystal Palace and his responsibilities are more attack-minded, although going through the footage there were some encouraging signs when it came to his positioning and ability to nick the ball away from players on their blindside.
Oliver Glasner has them extremely well drilled and the 27-year-old ensures his wing-back (usually Tyrick Mitchell) is supported, but his ability to act as a pressure valve and get Palace up the pitch quickly – either in transition or through ball carrying – was just as eye-catching.
As highlighted by Opta Analyst, of the 50 Premier League players to apply at least 1,200 pressures in the middle and final thirds of the pitch last season, only five (Antoine Semenyo, Dominic Solanke, Idrissa Gueye, Joao Gomes and Nicolas Jackson) had a higher proportion that were deemed high intensity pressures than Eze (71.4%). More high turnovers, coming to an Emirates Stadium near you.
There’s something quite unsettling about this fanbase agreeing on something but mark your calendars – it’s happened. Get the t-shirts ready. Not only is Eze one of the most exciting players in the league and ready-made to contribute in his peak years, but an extremely easy person to root for as well; and we’re all crazy about football because football is about people.
It’s about stories, journeys and connections that tie you to your club and having one of our own (who made no secret of his desire to join) back again, coming full circle after working through rejection and the lower leagues of English football is beautiful. We’ve privy to so much information nowadays which can dilute excitement and spontaneity from transfers; why can’t we lose ourselves in the romance of this signing?
This is someone who idolised Thierry Henry as a young boy. This is someone who grew up on the Wenger teams that fell just short. This is someone who teared up going through his childhood shirt collection with Ian Wright. This is someone who questioned the decision to bid £92m for Thomas Lemar on deadline day and backed Arsenal to win the league when our defence consisted of David Luiz, Sokratis and Skhodran Mustafi. He’s one of us – it just so happens that he’s really good at football as well.
Finding your way doesn’t mean you always know where you’re going, it’s knowing how to find your way back that’s important. Eze is back, and hopefully Arsenal will be too.
Let it all work out.
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