Eberechi Eze #21

Profile

Last summer Eze was flying: an FA Cup winner with Crystal Palace, an emerging England regular, and a new £60m signing for boyhood club Arsenal. But – apart from a memorable derby hattrick against Spurs, and two in the return fixture – he has struggled to make a regular impact in a title-winning season at the Emirates. But he has plenty of resilience to draw on, having been through the trauma of being released by multiple clubs, including Arsenal, as a youngster. Looking back he said he coped thanks to “my trust and faith in God, I just allowed it to fuel me and fill me up, which was important. It doesn't mean that it wasn’t difficult. It's still difficult to get through those times. I remember thinking: ‘why is this so hard? But the love for football never, never changed.” He’s also a keen chess player, having been taught to play by former Palace teammate Michael Olise. Eze won the £15,000 first prize in a Chess.com amateur tournament in May last year, beating YouTuber Sapnap in the final.

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