While the football world debates where Arsenal should deploy summer signing Eberechi Eze, the player himself says his position isn’t as important as being prepared for the needs of the game.
In his 296 minutes on the pitch, Eze has already notched two assists and scored a goal – an encouraging start for someone who openly admits he’s being “stretched” by Mikel Arteta’s demanding training sessions.
So far, we’ve seen the summer signing play off the left against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest and more centrally at Port Vale, where he opened his Gunners account. In last weekend’s draw with City, it felt like Eze floated all over the pitch, underlined by the deep central position he held when he provided the chipped pass to Gabriel Martinelli that resulted in Arsenal’s late leveller.
It’s been a quietly efficient start to life at the Emirates, with both the move and the chance to work under Arteta living up to his expectations.
Ahead of Sunday’s clash with Newcastle, Eze told Sky Sports: “I know that I’m only just starting, but I’m already feeling like I’m being pushed and my mind is being stretched.
“For me, that’s where I want to be, I want to live in that place of getting it but not getting it, getting it and being able to work and operate, but also be myself, that’s where you want to live, and I know that I’m consistently improving if that’s the case.”
His words echo those of Declan Rice, who, just a month into working with Arteta, said he’d “learned so much about football that I hadn’t seen before.”
When that was put to Eze, he agreed: “He [Arteta] is just considering details, he’s seeing things…you’ve just got things that he’s thinking about [that] you haven’t even considered or thought of, and the moment you apply it and put it into practice you realise, look at the difference this makes.
“So then it becomes you’re training something to make it a habit and there’s so [many], it’s not just one thing, it’s five things and you’re always, always improving, always getting better.
“For me that’s, that’s the type of people you want to work with every day, man, because you know that you’re going to get the best out of yourself.”
At Crystal Palace, much of the play was channelled through Eze, who operated behind the strikers with licence to roam. Many would like to see him afforded the same freedom at Arsenal, although with Martin Odegaard the established creative hub, Arteta faces the challenge of finding a balance.
“I don’t feel like the position matters so much,” said Eze. “I think each game is different, each game provides different spaces, opportunities, windows so it’s hard to say, ‘You’re this type of player and this fits every game,’ because it doesn’t, especially at this level.
“I’m comfortable that wherever I’m put, I’m sure I’m given the best understanding and ideas of how to be the most effective in that position with those spaces and whatever it is so yeah, I’m, I’m quite easy.”
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