Eberechi Eze’s true talent ‘still yet to explode’ as England debut beckons

E berechi Eze has never been slow to make an impression. Coaching staff at QPR recall the warm and smiley 18-year-old street footballer who honed his skills in the cages of south London turning up for a week-long trial at Lilleshall in 2016. The following year, while on loan at Wycombe, he had teammates giggling on the pitch so audacious was some of his body of work. Then there is the 20-second hat-trick he scored on his first day of training at Crystal Palace two years ago. It is fair to say the smile on his face has not diminished this week, with Eze primed to make his England debut in Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta on Friday or on Monday against North Macedonia.

As a boy growing up on a council estate in Greenwich, money was tight. Eze remembers the days when, while playing for Bruin FC in Bermondsey, southeast London, he and his father would have to weigh up whether attending trials at certain clubs was feasible because of the cost of fuel to get there. His first stop was West Ham. He signed for Arsenal aged nine but tears flowed when he was deemed too small and released by the team he grew up supporting at 13. He played for Fulham until 16 and then joined Reading, who let him go a few months later. Trials at Bristol City, Norwich, Swansea and Sunderland came and went. Millwall gave him another chance but did not offer him a professional contract.

By the time he arrived on trial with QPR’s development sides in the summer of 2016 he was preparing to start a part-time job at Tesco and considering college courses. Nearly all the rejection stories centred on clubs being unconvinced by his work rate but QPR focused on nurturing his undoubted talent. “A lot of people used to say: ‘He needs to learn the other side of