Eberechi Eze has reflected on shedding tears in his room ‘for a solid week’ after being let go by Arsenal back in 2011.
Like Eze in 2011, Arsenal at the weekend released 19 players, including two Nigerians, goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo and Ovie Ejeher, as well as Mohammed Elneny, Cedric Soares, Omari Benjamin and Mauro Bandeira. Others are Luis Brown, Catalin Cirjan, Noah Cooper, Henry Davies, Taylor Foran, Hubert Graczyk, James Hillson, Henry Jeffcott, Tyreece John-Jules, Alex Kirk, James Lannin-Sweet, Kamarni Ryan and Kido Taylor-Hart.
Now, at the age of 25, Eze is regularly setting Selhurst Park alight and conjured up a remarkable tally of 11 goals and four assists this season for Crystal Palace. He has certainly experienced the ups and downs football has to offer, but his talent is flourishing now at the south London club following a fruitful four-year spell at QPR.
However, he kindled fears about the end of his career before it had even begun when Arsenal released him at 13 years old. A product of Arsenal’s youth academy since 2006, Greenwich-born Eze honed his skills for half a decade before facing that heart-wrenching moment of parting ways with the club.
Sharing his soul-crushing experience with The Independent in 2020, he recalled: “I was 13 (when I was released). That was the worst one. I remember crying in my room for a solid week, my mum telling me that it’s going to be OK but not being able to get over it. Then I went to Fulham and I was finally starting to enjoy my football again. We played Arsenal a few months later but, when I went over to shake the academy manager’s hand, I started welling up. All the feelings came back.”
