This season feels like a do-or-die for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal.
The Spaniard has done a brilliant job of taking the club from mid-table mediocrity to perennial title challengers in five years, but he now needs to get the team over the finishing line.
Fortunately, even with the absurd number of injuries they’re already facing, the Gunners now have a squad full to bursting with brilliant players, like Eberechi Eze, who could help them win the Premier League or Champions League.
Interestingly, though, while Arsenal should be delighted to have the Crystal Palace star on the books, one of their former players is currently performing just like him.
The problems Eze solves for Arsenal
Now, while there are undoubtedly other things he brings to the table, there are two main ways Eze can help Arsenal, and they are somewhat interlinked.
Firstly, the Gunners ended last season with 17 fewer goals scored than champions Liverpool, and therefore needed to go out and sign a serious attacking threat in the summer, like the former Palace star.
For example, in 43 appearances last season, totalling 3,303 minutes, the England international scored 14 goals and provided 11 assists.
Appearances
43
Minutes
3303′
Goals
14
Assists
11
Goal Involvements per Match
0.58
Minutes per Goal Involvement
132.12′
That means he averaged a goal involvement every 1.72 games, or every 132.12 minutes, and the fact that he was able to do so in a mid-table side is even more encouraging.
This links to the other main way in which the Greenwich-born star could help the Gunners: his positional versatility.
On top of being proven in the number ten role, the former QPR gem is more than capable of playing off the left.
Not only will this give Arteta more tactical flexibility in games, but it also means the 27-year-old will be able to provide genuine competition for Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard, two players who underperformed last year.
In all, Eze looks like an excellent signing for Arsenal, even though a player sold by the club years ago is starting to resemble the £68m man.
The former Arsenal star playing like Eze
It would be fair to say that Arsenal do not have the best track record when it comes to selling, often due to them selling a player for way less than their worth.
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That isn’t actually the case in this instance, as former Hale Ender Alex Iwobi was sold to Everton in 2019 for a hefty fee of around £35m.
The Nigerian wasn’t a bad player for the Gunners, far from it, but he wasn’t ever spectacular, and so when the Toffees made an offer like that for someone who’d amassed a tally of 39 goal involvements in 149 games, it was probably the right decision to let him go.
While he played a big role on Merseyside, the versatile international was eventually sold to Fulham for around £22m in the summer of 2023, and it would be accurate to say he’s been at his best with the Cottagers.
In fact, since moving to Craven Cottage, the former Gunners ace has scored 16 goals and provided ten assists in 83 appearances, totalling 6118 minutes.
Appearances
149
140
83
Goals
15
9
16
Assists
24
16
10
Goal Involvements per Match
0.26
0.17
0.31
Yet, despite putting in consistently good performances for the West Londoners and already racking up three goal involvements in five league games this season, some consider him to be overlooked, with journalist Daniel Storey going as far as calling him “one of the most underrated midfielders in the country.”
With that said, what makes him like Eze?
Well, the first similarity the Nigerian shares with the Gunners ace is his positional versatility, as he’s just as comfortable playing on the wing as he is in midfield.
Second, he is also becoming a greater goal threat for his side, racking up 15 goal involvements in the league last season and just seven the year before.
Finally, like the North Londoners’ new star, he is also capable of making things happen, both through his brilliant close control and ability to deliver a pinpoint-accurate cross into the penalty area.
Ultimately, Arsenal did the right thing in selling Iwobi when they did, but it’s also true that the Fulham star is playing incredibly well at the moment, and looking a bit like Eze in the process.
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