Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze has been made to work hard to reach the top of the football pyramid, and the England international has opened up on the missed opportunities clubs had to snap him up as a youngster.
Eze, 25, joined Palace from QPR in 2020 after excelling for the Championship club. He has overcome injuries during his time in South London to play his 100th top-flight game this season, and scored his team's winner in a valuable 1-0 win at Anfield on Sunday.
The goal dented Liverpool's title hopes, while moving Oliver Glasner's side closer to safety. It also helped out his former club Arsenal in the title race, though the Gunners failed to take advantage, falling to a home defeat against Aston Villa later the same day.
Eze has previously spoken about his time in Arsenal's academy, but the Gunners aren't the only Premier League club to let him slip through their fingers. Fulham also released the playmaker when he was still in his teens, while four other clubs said no before QPR finally gave him his breakthrough.
"I started at Bruin - that's a Sunday league team," Eze said, in a video shared by LifeeOfBallers on TikTok. "[I] was there for maybe half a year before getting scouted by a few teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, more London-based teams.
"I decided to go to Arsenal, was there for maybe five years, played there, then got released. Went to Fulham for two and a half years or so [and] got released from there, went to Reading for half a year, got released from there.
"Then went to Millwall for my scholar so I was there for two years, then got released from there. Went on trial to a few teams afterwards, went to Sunderland, went to Bristol City, got released from there - well, not released, but didn't get in."
"Then, thankfully to God, got signed by QPR," he continued. "They gave me a year contract, [I] worked for maybe three or four months, got offered a new contract and from there started to grow, started to get better and improve, play first-team football, and from there I got a move to Palace., and that's where I am now"
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With six games of the season remaining, Eze still has time to match his career-best goal tally of 10 from the 2022-23 season. His winner at Liverpool lifted the Eagles eight points clear of the drop zone, moving them one step closer to safety, with manager Glasner hailing his team after his first away win as boss.
“Our first-half was really brilliant, how we played, how we defended, also the confidence we had in possession,” Glasner said after the win. “What a goal we scored, really amazing here at Anfield.
“I think what was perfect was our desire, our passion, our spirit, because in the second-half there was so much pressure from Liverpool and we defended. I don't know – a leg here, a leg there, and with every single cell in their bodies they defended, and we got the reward, so congrats to the team for this performance today."
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