We need to have a serious conversation about Eberechi Eze – Mikel Arteta has reason not to rate him
Eberechi Eze has not yet sparked into life since his £67.5million move to Arsenal during the summer window.
It has been a common theme at the Emirates Stadium, with Arsenal fans not yet impressed by Viktor Gyokeres. Yet, he has 13 goals and two assists to his name across all competitions.
Of course, Martin Zubimendi has had much more success under Mikel Arteta, with arrivals having very different experiences in North London, but the same cannot be said for Eze.
Arsenal beat Tottenham to the signing of the Crystal Palace superstar, with the transfer announcement greeted with a lot of excitement, and it was the Gunners’ biggest rivals that he haunted back in November.
Fans expected the 27-year-old to kick on after his hat-trick, but it has been far from ideal since.
Eberechi Eze has failed to kick on at the Emirates Stadium
Without his hat-trick in the North London derby, Eze would have two goals and three assists to his name, and his last Premier League start before Thursday, 12 February, came 10 league games ago.
He failed to even make it off the bench in four of those games, and while he has been given chances in the various competitions, supporters would have expected much more from the big-money signing.
Finally, he was given the nod again against Brentford. Sadly, within just 45 minutes, Arteta had seen more than enough, hooking him at the half-time break and replacing him with Martin Odegaard.
It may have seemed like a harsh decision, but looking at his stats from the night, the manager had every right to haul him off at the break.
Arsenal star’s full stats speak for themselves vs Brentford
In 45 minutes, he had just 17 touches of the ball, completing nine passes, failing to create a single chance or complete a dribble, all while winning just 50 per cent of his ground duels and being dispossessed once [FotMob].
The performance was a far cry from his Crystal Palace days, and it really felt as though Arteta’s hesitation to use the attacking midfielder had been cleared up in just one half of football.
Despite Keith Andrews‘ side’s success at the Gtech Community Stadium, there was a lot of space for creative minds to take advantage of. Yet, Eze was completely left behind.
Many will want to give the player the benefit of the doubt during his first season with the Gunners, but these are very worrying signs, with Arteta clearly not comfortable enough to start him more regularly.