Eberechi Eze is Crystal Palace's FA Cup semi-final winning star forged in 'Concrete Catalonia' and being tracked by top clubs - but here's why none have met his £68million release clause
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- Uncertainty remains over a potential move for Eberechi Eze to an elite club despite his talent, but the England midfielder can create history with Palace
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Just 33 days on from scoring his first England goal, Eberechi Eze assumed a leading role at Wembley as the Crystal Palace star helped guide the club to just their third FA Cup final.
Eze sent an effort screaming into the top corner from 20 yards in the first half to put Oliver Glasner's side 1-0 up against Aston Villa and set the Eagles on their way to victory. The 26-year-old nonchalantly celebrated with a stare before pointing to the crowd, with the midfielder embracing a landmark moment on the biggest stage.
Eze's influence continued in the second half when his was brought down in the Aston Villa box, only for the resulting penalty to be missed by Jean-Philippe Mateta.
He was withdrawn either side of Ismaila Sarr's two goals which sealed Crystal Palace's 3-0 victory, with the Eagles' talisman confirmed as man of the match as he was cheered off the pitch by the club's supporters.
With Eze helping Crystal Palace move a major step closer to glory, Mail Sport's SIMON JONES charts his rise and explains why elite clubs are yet to prise him away from Selhurst Park.
‘I was astounded, genuinely astounded. An outstanding footballer, an outstanding person. He is a gift to any football club.’
The rhetorical question for Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish last September was: why had Eberechi Eze not been prised away from Selhurst Park?
Parish was pleased but perplexed. He has never shied away from the reality that, despite their own ambitions, Palace are a stepping stone to elite clubs. Michael Olise’s sale to Bayern Munich was a case in point.
On the back of a strong finish to last season and a European Championship with England, many expected Eze to follow suit.
Was it the £68million release clause? The niggling injuries? The fact he turns 27 in June? Or all of the above?
Those questions still apply today. Throw in that Eze has been wrestling with his form and you understand why there is still uncertainty over the move to an elite club his talent merits.
Saturday's FA Cup semi-final opponents at Wembley, Aston Villa, are on his lengthy list of admirers. Manchester United have called recently. Tottenham, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and boyhood club Arsenal have also flirted with signing Eze but, so far, stopped short of committing to him.
‘There’s no doubting his ability,’ one Premier League manager told Mail Sport, ‘but has he been consistent enough this season to warrant that move up? And his injury record, for that price, we’d need someone more robust.’
Robust? When you know Eze’s pathway to the present day, that is not a characteristic you would question, but appraisals in football can often be delivered in blunt terms.
‘Ebbs has had quite a strange season,’ says Palace manager Oliver Glasner. ‘He was so unlucky in many situations. He had disallowed goals, deflected balls, hitting the post, everything, but he always keeps going.
‘He struggled with some injuries, also strange injuries with his foot. But he always has the confidence. We need this quality, every team needs this quality.’
Eze’s nonchalant volley against Arsenal on Wednesday and his role in Palace’s Cup quarter-final victory at Fulham were timely reminders of his capabilities.
An eye-catching performance at Craven Cottage was punctuated with a stunning goal, and he showed the kind of fleet-footed trickery observers have come to associate with a man who forged his skills in the claustrophobic spaces of south-east London’s crowded football cages.
Dubbed ‘Concrete Catalonia’ for its propensity to unearth Premier League talent, it is a harsh playground, an escape for the underprivileged where you learn to find solutions fast and hone resilience.
Eze emerged from what he admits is ‘the not so nice part’ of Greenwich, the Flamsteed estate, named after the first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed. There, he played all day and night, often not eating, on the first steps to his football education. A place, he says, that will ‘forever be special’ and which he helps today with his foundation.
Born to churchgoing Nigerian parents Valentine and Nwugo, Eze, to tweak a phrase, has his world on his feet.
Bespoke moon shadow blue boots, which he designed with New Balance, are adorned with a constellation in a nod to the Royal Observatory that overlooks his old stomping ground.
Each star is named after those who are ‘dear to his heart’. ‘Every time I take to the pitch it’s as if they are playing with me,’ he says. ‘When I look down I remember where I’ve come from, what’s real, what’s true. To remain grounded.’
Eze does not seek validation from others but Glasner has underlined in recent weeks how important it was for him to be selected by Thomas Tuchel and score his first England goal against Latvia last month.
It was affirmation of the faith those close to him — his parents, two brothers and sister — had instilled when he was rejected by Arsenal at 13. The same followed at Fulham, Reading and Millwall. Swansea City, Sunderland and Bristol City all turned him down as well but mental fortitude and an unswerving belief ‘that God had given him a gift he was obligated to take to the end’, fuelled his persistence. His break came with a trial at QPR.
‘Myself and Andy Impey were taking a session and we just looked and thought, “Wow, who is this?”’ says QPR coach Paul Hall, who Eze calls one of the biggest influences on his career. ‘Your immediate thought is, “What’s wrong with him?”. We couldn’t understand how somebody so good had walked in on trial. You think it’s too good to be true.’
Hall, Impey and QPR technical director Chris Ramsey had recognised a supreme street footballer who merely required professional coaching.
‘It was the easy stuff he didn’t have, the positional play he needed coaching on,’ Hall says. ‘He needed coaches who understood street football and I played in the cages.’
At QPR, Eze felt understood. They were talking his language. Training alongside the maverick Ravel Morrison helped accelerate his creative flow.
Still, an occasional jolt was required. In his own words, Eze was having a ‘stinker’ when his mentor Ramsey reminded him at half-time: ‘You were nearly working at Tesco’s if we didn’t sign you.’
There were more than a few reward points for QPR, though, when Crystal Palace star finder Dougie Freedman stepped in ahead of West Ham in 2020 to sign Eze for £19.5million.
Key to Freedman’s pitch was former England manager Roy Hodgson, then in charge of Palace, who had vowed to make Eze a better player.
Palace analysis showed Eze had been having an impact on QPR games for up to 25 minutes, but Hodgson was able to improve that to an hour.
Eze credited Hodgson with opening his eyes to so much more. ‘Not just about football but how to carry myself as a person.’ The two formed an unlikely bond.
Not that there was much to manage. Eze, tee-total and well-mannered, would attend church on Sundays with then team-mate Nathan Ferguson.
Hodgson encouraged Eze’s competitive nature, even in chess and table tennis. It started to take effect. Word spread about Eze’s potential to earn an international call-up.
A little help from family didn’t go amiss, either, as his comedienne cousin Ego Nwodim took to wearing a Palace away shirt on US cult TV show Saturday Night Live.
‘Players of his type will always be watched,’ says Hodgson. ‘But he’s the one who has got to maintain that level. He can take his career as far as he wants while he is prepared to work for it. He’s already shown the ability, skill and mentality.’
But Eze’s journey was about to meet another stumbling block. Just as Gareth Southgate was to give him his first England cap, Eze ruptured an achilles tendon in training. After being carried into the doctor’s room to be assessed, his phone pinged with the text to say he was in the provisional squad for Euro 2020.
His faith allowed him to be phlegmatic. Two years later, Eze earned the call-up he had been promised.
‘It was a difficult moment but even then I had a huge sense of peace,’ he told the Men in Blazers podcast. ‘I believed God showed me that text for a reason, that I was on the right path. Staying rooted allows you to see life through the right lens.’
In the Protein Studios of Shoreditch, east London, Eze is centre stage. Invited, aptly, with a number of ‘creatives’ to discuss his latest collaboration with New Balance. He is pushed on how it feels to be on the brink of history with Palace.
‘It’s been a bit of a weird season. Lots of ups and downs. But that’s just how football goes sometimes with different injuries and stuff. It’s the business end of the season now, though, a special time of the season. I’m just excited we still have so much to play for...’
In more ways than one for Eberechi Eze.
