Eberechi Eze was one of the most coveted stars on the transfer market this past summer in the Premier League, and although many thought he was headed for Tottenham Hotspur, his childhood favorite club Arsenal were in on him the whole time and stole the Crystal Palace star from under the noses of their hated North London rivals with a more attractive proposal for the Eagles.
Arsenal used Eze to embarrass Thomas Frank and Spurs 4-1 in the North London Derby, with Eze hanging a full on hat trick on the heads of the otherwise decorated Tottenham defense.
But outside of that game, Eze has been pretty poor for the Gunners, mostly rotting on the bench even though starting attacking midfielder Martin Odegaard has been a pretty sizeable disappointment again.
Eberechi Eze is now an afterthought in the Premier League
This past weekend, Chelsea faced off against Eze’s former employers Crystal Palace 3-1, beating their local rivals with relative ease. The loss to Chelsea now places Palace in 15th in the Premier League, even though they had just won the FA Cup last season and should have been building on their success.
But the reality of the modern Premier League is much harsher. The year before, Palace sold their best player, Michael Olise, to Bayern Munich. He is now a Ballon d’Or candidate.
This past summer, it was Eze, who was the main force behind the Eagles winning the FA Cup last season. Now this winter, Marc Guehi has gone to Manchester City, and star striker Jean-Philippe Mateta is fully expected to join him on the way out. Next summer, Oliver Glasner will finally call it quits.
With most of the Premier League watching, Palace’s easy defeat to Chelsea was an example of the fact that the Eagles just cannot compete with the top clubs in the Premier League or take that next step, forced to sell instead of build, which is the reality for the mid table of the English top flight.
Meanwhile, after being so important to Palace and a genuine superstar in the Premier League these last couple of seasons, Eze is now an afterthought at Arsenal, the title favorites (despite their own loss to Manchester United).
Eze hasn’t been all that terrible when you actually watch the games and could be playing more for Arsenal, but partially because of the politics of it and the talent in the squad, Mikel Arteta cannot justify giving him more starts.
Plus, even though Eze hasn’t been terrible, he hasn’t been great either, and he was unequivocally great at Crystal Palace. It just goes to show you how tough it is for the Premier League to have real parity when the difference between a club like Arsenal (or Chelsea) and a club like Palace is that drastic.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.