No final Palace appearance for Eze

Morning, a quick Friday blog for you.

So Eberechi Eze didn’t play for Crystal Palace last night as they beat Fredriskstad 1-0 at Selhurst Park in their Conference League qualifier. Oliver Glasner said pre-game that the 27 year old had called him the morning of the game and said ‘he doesn’t feel well to play in the evening, and of course I have to accept it’.

Which is quite gracious from the German Austrian, but you can also understand where the player is coming from. I don’t think he was pretending to be ill, but if you’re on the cusp of a move back to the club where you grew up, you just might not be in the right frame of mind to play. And I do think the journey Eze has been on is part of it. He was at Arsenal from the age of 8 to 13, before being released, and he’s someone who has had to work hard to make his way in the professional game.

In an interview with Rising Ballers on YouTube, he laid bare the rejection he faced during his career. Some players make the breakthrough early, in the Academy they started in, but it feels like Eze has had to try and try again to convince people he has what it takes, saying:

I started off at Arsenal, that was eight. Got released from there at 13. Went to Fulham, got released from there. Went to Reading, got released from there. A lot of rejections during that period. Then went to Millwall, having to try and prove yourself again, which is, as a young kid, it’s difficult. Again, that didn’t work out, got released from there.

Arsenal’s probably the hardest. My dream is to play for them. So hearing them say no at 13, that was tough. And I remember training after I got released and I couldn’t focus. I was just crying whilst I was training.

As a kid, that’s all I knew. Arsenal was everything.

So, after all that rejection and all that work to get picked up by QPR; to go on loan to Wycombe Wanderers; then to Palace where you really show people you have what it takes; the risk of playing a game like last night’s must have been weighing on his mind when you’re about to fulfil a dream you’ve had since you were 8 years old. I know some people will say as long as you’re contracted to one club you should be ready and available for them, but it can also be counter-productive.

I remember Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain playing for us against Liverpool days before he was about to join them, and it was a shambles. To be fair, Arsenal were a collective shambles that day all kinds of reasons, but it’s a difficult situation for any player to be in and you rarely get what you need from them in terms of performance if their mind is elsewhere. It would have been lovely for him to play one last game at Selhurst Park and say a proper goodbye to a club he’s had a big impact at and that I’m sure he holds dear, but is that worth the possibility of an injury or a random bad tackle scuppering a transfer?

Even from the Palace perspective, there’s going to be £60m+ at their disposal in the transfer market which will definitely be more useful than an injured Eze – in the short-term at least. Palace chairman Steve Parish said of Eze:

He’s been fantastic for the club. We all love him for what he’s done and what he’s achieved and we’re pleased that he’s going to go on and fulfil the other ambitions that he’s got. But the king is no longer the king, right? We have to move past it and we have to find other players to bring in that could support the rest of the team and Oliver.

While Glasner said:

We have to act. We need this. And this is Crystal Palace’s future. The profile is defined for months. It is not surprising for everyone that Ebs left. We missed the chance to replace him early enough. That’s completely our fault and nobody else’s.

I think Glasner really deserves the backing given the job he’s done there, and it would be a real shame for Palace if they didn’t hang onto a manager who has brought them success and a platform to really kick on from. Let’s see what they do.

As for us, Mikel Arteta meets the press at 1.30 ahead of the game against Leeds tomorrow. Typically he won’t say anything about a player unless they’ve signed officially, which is understandable, but I do wonder if the way the Eze situation has played out might change that just a little. We’ll bring you all the stories on Arseblog News later this afternoon.

And we’ll also have a bit more to say about the whole thing in our preview podcast on Patreon. If you fancy signing up, it’s just $6 per month – not a single price increase since 2018, folks! – and you can do that at patreon.com/arseblog. If you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, there’s a fun Arsecast below with Ryan and Musa from Stadio.

For now though, have a good one.