Eberechi Eze set to grace the Premier League with Crystal Palace
As confirmed , Eberechi Eze has completed his move to to the Eagles, with the South London club beating off a host of competitors in the race for the his signature.
Eze contributed 14 goals and 8 assists in the Championship last year helping QPR to finish 13th.
Playing in an attacking midfield role from the left hand side or behind the striker of QPR’s 4-2-3-1 formation, Eze was a revelation under Mark Warburton becoming one of the best players in the Championship.
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The England U-21 international is most effective with the ball at his feet in the attacking third. In these positions, he uses his high-level technical ability to drift pass challengers breaking pressure and opening forward spaces. The attacker completes 3 dribbles a game, but will have to work even harder to complete these at the top level.
Eze’s first thought is to get the ball forward into goal scoring positions and he does not just rely on his dribbling skills to create these opportunities, the attacker also has an eye for a pass. The passes are considered and played to ensure that a team mate can have a chance on goal (1.8 Key passes a game) or for Eze to receive the ball back in order to get a shot in.
Crystal Palace under Roy Hodgson are a side built to defend and be compact, relying on the individual talent of attackers like Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend to create chances and score goals. The side average only a goal a game (1.07) and created 274 big chances compared to other sides around them such as Newcastle who averaged 1.34 and 400 big chances.
With Eze this output should increase and would take pressure off Zaha to be the chief creator and allow the former more space to exploit with the two having the ability to interchange positions throughout the game.
The young man is wonderfully athletic and has a good engine, allowing him to get around the pitch and maintain a high level of performances for the whole game. Eze looks to cut in often and therefore plays more as an inverted forward than winger, allowing the space outside him for the fullback to progress into.
This will help current left back Van Aanholt who likes to get forward at will and give an attacking output to the left hand side for Palace. Eze though will be asked to work hard by Hodgson and work back to protect his fullback or midfield if he is playing as the number 10.
Les Ferdinand, QPR’s director of football could not speak highly enough of him
"“Allied to his natural talent, Ebere is an incredibly motivated, determined and humble individual and that is why there has been so much interest in him from Premier League sides.” – Les Ferdinand (quote via Sky Sports)"
Eze has all the talent to make it to the top and a host of Premier League teams will regret not making the move to sign the player. Time will tell though if Crystal Palace is the right fit for his career at the moment.
As his game continues to develop he will make the step up with ease and it looks to be a fight for his international allegiance with Nigeria looking to add the young man to their squad. Regardless of who Eze ends up playing for, he has all the tools to become a star.
What do you guys think his first season at Palace will look like?