Speaking on a recent episode of The Phil Hay Show, the titular Leeds United focused journalist discussed his admiration of Crystal Palace winger Eberechi Eze.
After his move from the Millwall U18 side to the Queens Park Rangers U23 team on a free transfer back in 2016, Eze went on to feature 112 times for the west London side, scoring 20 goals and providing 13 assists along the way.
Last season, the £16.2 million-rated 22-year-old highly impressed for the R’s, scoring 14 goals and providing eight assists over his 46 Championship appearances, averaging a WhoScored match rating of 7.36 – ranking him as the club’s best performer in the league.
And, it would appear that his performances last term caught the eye of several Premier League clubs, with Leeds, West Ham United and Crystal Palace all reported to be keen on signing the attacking midfielder.
However, it would be Roy Hodgson’s side who would eventually win the race for the England U21 international, landing the midfielder in what was a £16.02 million deal back in August.
Ahead of Leeds’ Premier League clash with Palace this weekend, Phil Hay discussed the club’s previous interest in Eze, as well as stating his belief that the 22-year-old would have been a good signing for Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
He said: “He is at Palace and is, to my mind, a really good player. That [interest in Eze] never seemed to get going on the Leeds front but he would certainly have been a player, if Leeds had dipped into the Championship as heavily as we thought they would to begin with, that I’d have been very interested in them getting hold of.
“[He’s] really talented, really good in that deep-lying forward position, where he can pick passes, he can run, he can look for possession. He’s another one in amongst [Andros] Townsend and [Wilfried] Zaha and others that [Leeds] will have to be careful with.”
Do you believe Eze would have been a good signing for Leeds?
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TIF Thoughts on Phil Hay’s comments regarding Eberechi Eze…
From Hay’s comments, it is clear that the journalist is of the belief that Eze would have been a good signing for Leeds, and that the attacking-midfielder has the potential to pose the club a significant threat in their fixture against Palace this Saturday.
However, considering that Eze has started just two league games for Hodgson’s side so far this season, it is debatable whether or not he will be involved much at all in the fixture, which, it would appear from Hay’s comments, could be a good thing for Leeds.