December 7, 2019. A bitterly cold and dreary afternoon in Shepherd’s Bush, West London. Around 12,000 spectators braved the elements at Loftus Road, the home of Queens Park Rangers. Big coats, thick scarves and woolly hats – but the freezing cold is bringing out a burst of talent.
His name is Eberechi Eze, the street footballer who refused to quit. Eze, as he often is, was majestic that day, scoring twice in a 2-0 win over Preston. He didn’t know it at the time, but it was the performance that changed his career.
Crystal Palace sporting director Dougie Freedman was there. The Scot knows a player when he sees one, plucking Marc Guehi, Cheick Doucoure and Michael Olise from relative obscurity, but Eze may be his best find yet. He has poise, poise, athleticism and a dogged resilience, honed in the unforgiving football cages of south London. His journey has navigated through the pain of rejection, but is now on the path to redemption.
Seven months after that match against Preston, Eze signed for Palace for £19 million. He’s packed a lot since then. On the pitch he is a beacon of excellence for Palace and last week won his second England cap.
His profile is also rising. On Monday, Eze took center stage during London Fashion Week as a guest of Burberry. Life is different for Eze now. This is the story of ‘Ebs’: the boy who never lost faith.
Eberechi Eze’s profile is rising at Crystal Palace, but he is still known as a humble and polite soul who goes to church on Sundays when he can
He was a guest at Burberry during London Fashion Week, but does not lose sight of who he is
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Those who met him describe a humble, gentle and polite soul. A man who now, at 25, is as approachable as he was before his career took off – a trait that is not universal among footballers.
It is important to Eze, he is determined not to forget who he is. Schedule permitting, Eze goes to church on Sundays, often accompanied by Palace teammate Nathan Ferguson. His faith has given us strength in difficult times. Released by Arsenal, Fulham and Millwall and with failed trials at Swansea, Bristol City and Sunderland, he doubted he would ever achieve his dream.
Born into a close-knit Nigerian family, education and hard work were paramount in Eze’s upbringing. He went on to college and worked at a local grocery store while pursuing his football dream.
But the rejection was heartbreaking. His talent and physicality were undoubted, but doubts were raised about his ability to convert those qualities into impactful contributions, his tactical awareness, decision-making and final ball.
“Everyone recognized the physical attributes, but the technical and football intelligence was probably not fully there at the time,” a former Arsenal youth scout told Mail Sport.
Many close to Eze claim that rejection has defined his life. In 2016 he got the rest he needed.
Paul Hall, the coach at QPR who Eze describes as one of the biggest influences on his career, tells Mail Sport: ‘Andy Impey and I were taking part in a session and we were just looking and thinking: ‘Wow, who is this?’ We couldn’t understand how someone could stand trial so well. You think it’s too good to be true.’
After years of rejection, he proved his quality at QPR and Wycombe and attracted the attention of suitors higher up the football pyramid.
Roy Hodgson was a key factor in convincing Eze to join Palace as they explained the manager would help him influence games for longer periods.
But coaches Hall, Impey and QPR technical director Chris Ramsey recognized the talent: a supreme street footballer in need of professional coaching.
“It was the easy things he didn’t have, the playmaking that he needed coaching for,” Hall said.
Eze learned quickly; training alongside Ravel Morrison accelerated his creative flow. “Ebs would more than hold his own, but I couldn’t put them on the same team because it would be so one-sided,” Hall recalls.
Eze signed professional terms in the summer of 2016 before making his senior debut under Ian Holloway in an FA Cup loss to Blackburn in January. He was loaned out to Wycombe for six months ahead of the 2017-18 season. At QPR there was no doubt that Eze was good enough, but he needed games. He started his first six months of sustained senior football at Wycombe seamlessly. The news spread.
“Within a few weeks we were getting texts saying, ‘You have to see this boy at Wycombe,'” says a Premier League sporting director.
Eze made 22 appearances and scored five goals at Adams Park before returning to QPR in January to become a first-team regular for the latter half of the campaign. Towards the end of the 2018/19 season, the Premier League beckoned.
For six months, Palace did not let Eze out of their sight. Freedman liked his balance and ability to slide past players. He admired the way Eze tackled matches in the same way, both home and away.
There were hopes that Freedman’s relationship with then QPR sporting director Les Ferdinand would put Palace in a strong position. But there was competition. Fulham and West Ham were keen – at one point Palace thought they were out of the running.
Roy Hodgson enters. Freedman played on the Hodgson factor in his conversations with Eze. Palace’s recruitment staff believed that Eze influenced QPR’s matches for 10 to 25 minutes. He was told that by working under Hodgson he would improve that to 45-60 minutes. That appealed to Eze and that side of his game has improved considerably.
Eze is now on the scene for England and Gareth Southgate is a fan of his strength and power
However, his international career already experienced heartbreak. He tore his Achilles tendon in training, just before finding out he had been named in the Euro 2020 squad
Hodgson taught Eze the art of blocking passes, cutting corners and applying pressure. The pair have formed an unlikely bond. Within 48 hours of returning to Palace last season after Patrick Vieira was sacked, 76-year-old Hodgson pulled Eze aside for a chat. He told Eze he was a guaranteed starter for him and he has been true to his word, with Eze playing every Premier League minute since Hodgson’s return. He knows the winger is a match winner.
Yet it has not always been a bed of roses for Eze at Palace. Vieira’s sparing use of him during a run of 13 games without a win after the World Cup confused many at the club. Sources close to Vieira say he felt Eze was not replicating his brilliance in training in matches. But don’t discount the influence Vieira has had on Eze’s career. It was under the Frenchman that Eze earned his first England call-up in 2021.
As Gareth Southgate pondered his selection for Euro 2020, Eze caught his eye. He liked his ability to play in different attacking positions. But what really captured Southgate’s imagination was the strength with which Eze carried the ball.
And while Southgate was concerned about Eze’s tactical acumen, he believed the time was right to invest in the then 23-year-old and called him up to his provisional Euros squad. But what followed was catastrophic: Eze tore his Achilles tendon during training three weeks before the end of the season. It was serious and he knew it. As he was carried inside, he grabbed his phone. It contained a text message from the FA confirming his first selection for England.
“I saw it as another hurdle, the focus was to keep pushing,” Eze said in May when he finally reported to St George’s Park as a bona fide England international two years after he should have done so. It was worth the wait for Southgate, who was particularly impressed with Eze’s attitude during camp ahead of the games against Ukraine and Scotland earlier this month. Since he first reported for duty in England, Eze has made it a point to remember everyone’s first name. That humility has left its mark.
There was a period between 2019 and 2021 when England feared they would lose Eze to Nigeria, but after taking advice he opted for the Three Lions.
In the future, Eze will leave Palace – probably next summer. Manchester City inquired about his availability in August. Tottenham too. They will not be the only ones interested in Eberechi Eze, the street footballer who turned professional.