Eberechi Eze has found form at the perfect time for Crystal Palace.
By Sam McGuire
The versatile attacker has five goals in his last four appearances for the Eagles and seven in his last 10 outings for Oliver Glasner’s side. During this run, he scored in the FA Cup quarter-final win over Fulham and the semi-final victory against Aston Villa. He also found the back of the net against Champions League chasing Manchester City and Nottingham Forest during this run, as well as scoring against Arsenal at the Emirates.
In his last appearance for the FA Cup finalists, he was the match-winner, netting twice in the 2-0 win over Spurs.
Palace face Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday. There’s going to be plenty of talent on show, but the form player heading into the game is Eze. This would well be his last hurrah with the Eagles.
Linked with a move to a Champions League club for the past couple of seasons, it feels as though it’ll finally happen for the 26-year-old. He’s avoided injury this term and he’s had an encouraging campaign under Glasner. He’s on seven goals and eight assists across 2,500 minutes in the Premier League. He’s got 24 goal involvements across all competitions, a career high for the England international since moving to Selhurst Park.
With a reported £60million release clause in his contract, Palace are powerless to stop his exit if a club stumps up the money. Over recent weeks, interest in him has ramped up.
Manchester City are believed to be keen to add him to their attacking ranks as they look to replace the departing Kevin De Bruyne in the summer. Spurs are also interested in the 10-cap international, though the struggling Premier League side likely have a lot to do this summer and splashing the cash on Eze might not be viewed as a priority.
Liverpool have been previously linked with the former QPR attacker too. The Reds are seemingly looking to bolster their creative ranks this summer to fill the void left by Trent Alexander-Arnold. Adding a creator to his ranks might make Arne Slot’s life a little easier as he looks to retain the Premier League title next season.
You can understand why top clubs are keeping tabs on the Eze situation.
To go along with his 17 Premier League goal involvements this term, he has an average FotMob rating of 7.41. Over the past four matches across all competitions, his average FotMob rating is 8.4. He’s scaling his game to new heights at a pivotal part of the season.
More importantly, though, he’s a dual goal threat. He’s a goalscorer and a goal creator.
He has a 10.25 Expected Goals haul this season and an Expected Assists total of 4.03. Eze has, on average, created almost two chances per 90 for the Eagles. If you look at his numbers last season, he was averaging 2.3 chances created per 90, meaning, across 4,500 top-flight minutes since the start of last term, he’s averaging 2.15 chances per 90. And if you look at the rest of his attacking numbers over that period, he’s racked up an xG total of 19.45 and an xA of 9.58, giving him an Expected Goal Involvement total of 29.03. All while playing for a mid-table team who seems to struggle in the first half of the campaign.
These numbers are over a fairly large sample size too.
The 26-year-old has proven himself to be a genuine, reliable threat in the final third. You pay the big money for those players, even if it is to bulk out the squad and give you more depth in that department. Not that Eze should be signed as a rotation option. He’s good enough to pull the strings for a top team.
There’s just more to his game than people realise. He can score, create, pass and carve out space for teammates. He’s the whole package.
And while he’s been on a hot streak recently, his five goals have come from an xG of 2.43, his performances in the penalty area over the entire season prove he deserves a bit of good fortune at this stage. He’d been underperforming earlier in the campaign, with his goal tally not matching his actual performances in the final third. Now, the efforts are going in and he’s boosted his numbers in what feels like a blink of an eye.
He’s a well-rounded attacker who is technically brilliant. He’s homegrown, versatile and entering his peak. Eze could be one of the most sought-after forwards in the Premier League this summer. The queue for him will only increase if he fires Palace to a shock FA Cup victory.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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