When Eberechi Eze scored his first senior goal whilst on loan at Wycombe Wanderers in 2017, manager Gareth Ainsworth said that the attacker is ‘going to be opening a few eyes very soon’. 

It’s safe to say that in the five years since Eze’s loan spell with Wycombe, he has caught the eye of plenty. After impressing upon his return to QPR from his loan spell in Buckinghamshire, he earned a £17 million move to Premier League side Crystal Palace in 2020. 

Despite an injury-blighted start to his career at Palace, Eze has impressed during the start of this season. He has developed an eye-catching relationship with the in-form Wilfried Zaha and looks set to be a key part of the exciting attack at Patrick Vieira’s disposal. 

His journey, however, has not been an easy road. Despite being in the academy set-up for most of his childhood and adolescence with the likes of Arsenal, Fulham and Reading, he was released at 18 by Millwall

Eze is part of the South London generation who grew up playing in ‘cages’ and has produced the likes of Michail Antonio, Jadon Sancho, Tammy Abraham, among a host of others. Cage football hones technical ability, skilful dribbling and drive on the ball. Three things which have characterised Eze’s game since his meteoric rise. 

When released from his Millwall scholarship, however, he thought that his ability in the cages wasn’t going to transfer to a professional career. He continued studying at college whilst working part-time at Tesco. 

Trials at Swansea City, Sunderland and Bristol City followed but were ultimately unsuccessful. He was deemed a ‘luxury’ player and was criticised for his body language.

Those clubs who turned him down must be regretting that decision now. 

It was when he showed up at Queens Park Rangers’ training ground that he really caught the eye. Chris Ramsey has been at the West London club since 2014 in a variety of roles including head of player development, academy manager, head of coaching and a brief stint as first-team coach. 

Ramsey liked what he saw of Eze, and his trial was turned into a contract in 2016 to link up with the R’s development squad. He impressed in the first half of the season with the U23 squad, scoring nine goals in 14 appearances. 

Eze has praised the work of Ramsey and other academy coaches such as Paul Hall and Andy Impey who honed his game on the training pitches at QPR. His performances earned him his first-team debut at Loftus Road in a third-round FA Cup tie against Blackburn Rovers. 

Manager Ian Holloway, who Eze had worked with at Millwall, handed the youngster a start to give the QPR faithful a glimpse of what was to come. However, his debut did not go to plan, and he was substituted in the 18th minute after picking up an injury early into the game. 

He wouldn’t have been the first, or the last, youngster to make a brief debut in an FA Cup game and drift back into the wilderness after failing to impress. The third round of the competition often sees Premier League and Championship sides fielding youngsters to give them a taste of first-team football, and those who fail to make an impact make the well-trodden path back to the U23s. 

Holloway was a big fan of the forward, and said on TalkSport in 2019 that he is ‘one of the best floaters that I have ever seen’. His ability to beat players and impact a match is his best quality, and that became very evident when he was handed a loan move for the first half of the 2017-18 season to Wycombe

  • Making a name for himself

He linked up with former Rangers legend Ainsworth, and it wasn’t long before he started to make an impact. He scored five goals in 20 appearances in League Two for the Chairboys including two wonder goals against Cambridge in October. 

Despite Ainsworth’s best attempts to keep Eze for the remainder of the season, he returned to Loftus Road and started eight of QPR’s final games and made 16 appearances in total. He scored his first goal for the club in his first league start against Sunderland and looked set for a starring role the following season. 

With Holloway’s departure from the club that summer, new manager Steve McClaren gifted the 20-year-old the famous number ten shirt at Loftus Road. Previously worn by club legends such as Rodney Marsh, Stan Bowles, Kevin Gallen and Adel Taarabt, the pressure was on his young shoulders to live up to the hype. 

Despite a good start to the season, with goals against Sheffield United, Bolton Wanderers, and a memorable finish against his previous employees, Millwall, he found himself on the bench for much of the second half of the campaign.

Whilst it was a frustrating time for him, it was the following season where he really announced himself on the big stage under Mark Warburton. He created a blistering partnership with fellow South Londoner, Bright Osayi-Samuel, whom Eze had played in the same district league with when growing up. 

The pair, alongside Ilias Chair, epitomised why QPR was the right club for him. Rangers were playing some delightful and free-flowing football with the young exciting trio at the heart of everything in West London

He scored fourteen goals in the league that season and recorded eight assists, and produced displays which really showed that he was Premier League bound. He always could weave past defenders and beat players one-on-one, but he crucially added the end product to his game which seemed to be the icing on the cake. 

When he scored a beautiful, curling effort in the last game of the season away at West Brom, it was fairly certain that it would be his last outing in the blue and white hoops. 

Marc Bircham, who coached Eze when he was Holloway’s assistant, had no doubts that his ability would take him to the next level. The ex-Rangers midfielder also worked with Raheem Sterling when the England ace was in the academy setup at QPR and drew comparisons between the two. 

Speaking to Sky Sports in 2018 he said that ‘he goes past players easier than Raheem Sterling did. Sterling would bet players with pace or do a trick or a chop - it’s all dynamic movements. But Ebere Eze just glides past players. 

It was this ability which convinced Palace to dip into their pockets and pay £17 million that summer to bring Eze, who had played for England U21, to the Premier League. It was a well-deserved move and one which allowed him his dream of playing in the top flight. 

The first season in the Premier League is usually one for adjustment for a young player from the Championship. Eze featured heavily under Roy Hodgson at Selhurst Park and made 34 appearances.

It was a steady return of four goals and eight assists, and his confidence was growing towards the end of the season when he put in a man-of-the-match performance in a 2-0 win against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane, scoring one and assisting the other. 

There was heartbreak, however, when just two games before the end of the season, Eze snapped his Achilles in training. When he got his phone from his locker after the injury, there was a message from Gareth Southgate informing him that he was in the provisional Euro 2020 England squad

The injury put an end to his hopes of playing in the tournament, and despite returning from his setback earlier than expected, much of last season was spent on the bench and readjusting to Premier League football. 

This season, however, he looks like he has fully shaken off his injury and is set to play a starring role supporting and collaborating with Zaha. His performance against Liverpool in The Eagles’ 1-1 draw at Anfield was particularly impressive. 

He picked up the ball in his own half, characteristically glided past Fabinho and threaded an inch-perfect through ball to Zaha, who slotted past Allison. It’s a combination that Palace fans can be really excited about, and even though Eze hasn’t found the net so far this campaign, it surely is a matter of time. 

Perhaps the World Cup may come a bit too soon, but you really wouldn’t bet against Eze getting his first England call-up very shortly. He’s had his fair share of setbacks - and if anyone can bounce back, it’s Eberechi Eze

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