I was brutally 'rejected' by dream club Arsenal - now I could join Newcastle United for £60m

Eberechi Eze is a fantastic example of a footballer who has had to overcome the setbacks of rejection from numerous clubs to make it to the big time and establish himself as a senior England international.

Eze has fought hard to become regarded as a top-class Premier League winger, and for the last two years he has become a regular in the England team or at least featuring heavily in the conversation for international squads. However, this stardom did not come overnight for Eze, who nearly 14 years ago had his dreams of playing for Arsenal crushed when he was brutally rejected by the club in 2011.

The Greenwich-born winger was just 13-years-old at the time and had his heart set on becoming a professional footballer. Reflecting on his upbringing he said: "There are the nice parts [of Greenwich] and the not so nice parts. I grew up in a not so nice part. It wasn't the easiest life and you don't have as much as other kids around you.

“The first place we'd go after school is to the cage. We'd stay there till our parents called us in, not eating, playing all day and night. There wasn't really anything else to do. But that's where the love comes from. [At the time], you don't realise it's actually how you're learning your trade.” (via the Independent)

Eze found the setback of being rejected by Arsenal extremely tough to take and admits he was reduced to tears when he was released as he quickly tried to bounce back at Fulham.

He explained: “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.”

He added, via Rising Ballers: “My dream was to play for them (Arsenal), so hearing them say no at 13 was tough. I remember training after I got released & I couldn't focus, I was just crying whilst training. But I think that helped me so much in all the other rejections because if I can get through Arsenal releasing me, I can get through any other club releasing me.”

Eze was subsequently released by the likes of Fulham, Reading, Millwall and also had failed trials at Sunderland and Bristol City, before finally finding a home at QPR where he would ultimately make his professional debut.

Eberechi Eze’s rise to prominence

Following his release from Millwall, Eze continued studying in college before trialling successfully with Championship club QPR. He was 18 when he signed his first professional deal with the London outfit and before long was breaking into the first team for Ian Holloway’s team. He then headed down to League Two with a loan spell at Wycombe Wanderers where he found the net five times in 20 league appearances.

“I think that loan was pivotal for him because it answered a lot of questions that maybe people at QPR had about him off the ball,” says former Wycombe teammate Marcus Bean, via The Guardian: “He went back into the QPR first team and the rest is history.”

Eze scored 20 times and contributed 12 assists in 122 games for QPR and was a pivotal player for a team fighting to survive in the Championship throughout his four years at Loftus Road. He was named as the Club’s Player of the Year in 2019/20 ,while also making the Championship Team of the Year and being nominated for the division’s Player of the Season award.

The youngster moved to Crystal Palace for £17m and has continued on his upwards trajectory, scoring 32 goals and assisting 28 in 157 appearances at Selhurst Park. He’s now establishing himself as one of the club’s best ever flair players, due to his individual brilliance and ability to beat a defender. He’s racked up ten senior caps for England and after featuring sparingly at Euro 2024 will have ambitions of becoming a regular starter under the stewardship of new boss Thomas Tuchel.

What next for Eberechi Eze?

According to Goal.com, Newcastle United are among the front-runners to sign Eberechi Eze in the summer transfer window for a reported figure of £60m. The Magpies are in contention to qualify for the Champions League and have already guaranteed themselves a minimum of Europa Conference League football after winning the Carabao Cup against runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool at Wembley Stadium.

They are planning for the next phase in their development and are reportedly in a much better position to spend on new recruits after the sales of Lloyd Kelly, Miguel Almiron, Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh in recent transfer windows, while also enjoying a strong campaign domestically.

Eze has played the majority of his career as a central attacking midfielder, but has proven on several instances that he can star as both a left-winger and a right-sided option on occasion. This would add valuable depth to Newcastle’s attacking trio of Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon and would also offer a strong central midfield trio of Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Joelinton a fresh attacking dimension.

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