Mikel Arteta has gotten Arsenal firing on all cylinders since his appointment, clearing out most of the deadwood and recruiting some top players who believe his cause as the Gunners manager.
After a rampant title fight last season with former mentor Pep Guardiola, Manchester City were the team with more energy as the Sky Blues clinched their seventh Premier League title. Arteta will be hoping he can his north London side to their first title in 20 years.
The post-Arsene Wenger era is in succession and the now Spaniard has made sure he’s brought youth with him for the ride – Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka are part of an attacking unit that dazzles 60,000 spectators in a stadium just a few miles from each of their respective birthplaces.
For the vast majority of the Premier League, Arsenal has been known to be an underdog in one way or another.
Whether it was the Gunners being pinned up against Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United for the title or trying to go toe-to-toe with Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur to be crowned the kings of London.
Arsenal missed out on a player who was the personification of an underdog – a rising starlet now thriving in the Premier League, Eberechi Eze.
What has been Eberechi Eze’s career path prior to Crystal Palace?
The 25-year-old may be reconsigned as one of the most talented players in the league who can “go past people, slip people in and finish” with ease, but his potential wasn’t recognised as a youngster at Arsenal.
Speaking on the Rising Ballers YouTube channel, Eze said:
"I started off at Arsenal, think I was eight, got released from there at 13, went to Fulham got released from there, went to Reading got released from there.
“There's bare rejections, a lot of rejections during that period. Then went to Millwall having to try to prove yourself again which as a young kid is difficult, again that didn't work out, got released from there."
“Arsenal was probably the hardest", he added. "My dream was to play for them so hearing them say no at 13 that was tough and I remember like training after I got released and I couldn't focus.
“I was crying whilst I was training. But I think that helped me so much in the other rejections because if I can get through Arsenal releasing me I can get through any other club releasing me.
“My mindset was if it was not going to be Arsenal I have to find somewhere else".
The England international impressed on a two-week trial at Queens Park Rangers before the west London club offered Eze a one-year contract in 2016.
The 2018/19 season was the attacking midfielder's first full season in the QPR first-team playing in all but one of the Hoops’ Championship games.
The 5f10 midfielder scored four and assisted three times in 2018/19 as his side finished 19th. The following season the now £30k-p/w player became the ‘creative’ beast that he is known as today.
Eze found the back of the net on 14 different occasions in the Championship while also managing to rack up eight assists in a mid-table QPR side. The midfield maestro created 82 chances across the season (10th most in the league) averaging 1.8 chances created per 90 minutes according to FotMob.
The skilful playmaker also averaged a staggering three successful dribbles per 90 with 61% of his take-ons being successful showing he’s not only capable of creating chances with through balls from deep areas of the pitch.
Eze’s world-beating season earned him a move across London to Crystal Palace as the Eagles splashed out £16m for the QPR prospect.
The Hoops also negotiated a 20% sell-on clause in Eze’s contract, which may be seen as very smart business as the midfielder is now reportedly worth at least £60m, per the Independent's chief football writer Miguel Delaney.
Will Arsenal regret releasing Eze?
The big question is will Arsenal regret releasing Eze?
After all, Arteta’s mighty Gunners will need to emulate Man City’s squad depth if they can go the distance in obtaining the title, even more so due to them playing in the UEFA Champions League this year.
The north London giants were the second-highest scorers in the Premier League last season with 88 goals. To put this into context, third-place Manchester United only managed to convert 58 times throughout the 2022/23 Premier League season. This may be why Arsenal have so many players in double figures for their goalscoring tally.
Eze did manage to score 10 times in a mid-table Palace side which would suggest that he would have scored a lot more if he was to play his home games at the Emirates Stadium.
The lowest-scoring player on the list is Kai Havertz with only seven goals to his name, however, it must be noted that the German did finish as Chelsea’s top goalscorer last season in the Premier League.
One of Eze’s key attributes is his "silky" dribbling – in the words of former teammate Geoff Cameron.
The 5 foot 10 Englishman tops the chart with 2.4 successful dribbles per 90 last season twice as many then Leandro Trossard and triple what Havertz averaged.
The "mesmerising" Palace whiz – as lauded by current teammate and Eagles skipper Joel Ward – also averaged 1.9 chances created per 90 showing he still has what it takes to unlock a defence like he did so well at in the Championship with QPR.
Ultimately, Eze would offer Arteta a differential to Odegaard for an attacking midfielder who is comfortable out wide. Guardiola moulded Bernardo Silva into a similar type of player, converting the Portuguese right-winger into a roaming creative catalyst in the centre of midfield to give him another option to Kevin De Bruyne.
2022/23 player statistics in the Premier League, as per FotMob Name Games Goals Assists SD p90* CC p90* Eberechi Eze 38 10 4 2.4 1.9 Bukayo Saka 38 14 11 1.8 2.1 Martin Odegaard 37 15 7 1.4 2.2 Gabriel Martinelli 36 15 5 1.9 1.9 Leandro Trossard 36 8 12 1.2 1.8 Kai Havertz 35 7 1 0.6 1.3
*SD p90 – successful dribbles per 90
*CC p90 – chances created per 90
Will Eze leave Selhurst Park?
In the summer, Palace showed it’s still possible to fight off a top-six club when they tied Michael Olise on a new four-year contract after Todd Boehly’s high-spending Chelsea activated the 21-year-old’s £35m release clause.
Of course, sporting director Dougie Freedman would love to give Eze the Olise treatment with a new bumper contract but with the money that homegrown players are going for at the minute, it would’t be impossible to say no to any incoming offers.
On deadline day, the Manchester City recruitment team highlighted Eze as a prime transfer target, as per Sunday Mirror.
The Citizens offered a reported £60m for the newly-capped England international as a replacement for Cole Palmer who joined Chelsea for £42.5m deal.
The report further stated that City refused to reach the Eagle’s 80million valuation of Eze.
Either way, given the evidence above, it appears that Arsenal made a rather premature decision on the England international, as he continues to haunt them with his domestic form at Selhurst Park.