Arsenal: £70m star’s future under threat with Arteta, Gunners worried about major danger
Eberechi Eze is fighting for his future at Arsenal after failing to impress in the early months of the new season, according to reports.
The Gunners spent £70m to bring Eze to the Emirates Stadium from Crystal Palace in the summer of 2025 with the England international having a brilliant campaign before moving to Arsenal.
Eze got eight goals and eight assists for Crystal Palace in the 2024/25 season but could not quite replicate his form for Arsenal last term, scoring seven and assisting two as they won the Premier League.
The former Palace man has a goal and assist in eight appearances in all competitions this season but Arsenal fans are becoming worried by his form.
Arsenal legend Paul Merson revealed on Monday that he is worried that Eze won’t make it as more than a squad player for the Gunners.
Merson told Sky Sports: “I’ve played for big teams and I’ve played for teams that weren’t big – it’s a different game. Eberechi Eze is a prime example. It’s so, so different.
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“He was substituted at half-time against Forest, but if he played like that for Crystal Palace, he would still be on the pitch.
“You’ve got to perform at Arsenal. You’ve got to play in a shape. You can’t just play your own game. You can’t be a free spirit at big clubs anymore.
“At Palace, the team talk is ‘give the ball to Eze, everything goes through him and then we’ll work from there’. You go to Arsenal, there are four of them. Give the ball to Bruno. Give the ball to Bukayo Saka. Give the ball to Martin Odegaard. Give the ball to Declan Rice.
“At Arsenal, he gets on the ball, and he’s got to make things happen in the 25, 30 times he’s touched the ball instead of the 100 times he touches the ball at Palace.
“I’ve seen him try to nutmeg people on the edge of his own box at Crystal Palace and lose the ball, but it’s alright. That’s no disrespect to Palace, but it’s just different playing for a big team.
“The pressure is on week in, week out at Arsenal. They can win at Forest and they’ll still get criticised by people like me. That’s the difference.
“I remember Aston Villa away last year. Eze falls asleep at the far post, Matty Cash scores and he gets subbed at half-time. He started only one league game in the next two months.
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“The lad can play. He’s a lovely player, but I don’t know if he’ll be lovely for Arsenal. I don’t know if he’ll get the chance because as soon as he doesn’t do well, he’s off.
“Arsenal have too many players on the bench, so it’s easy to take him off. That’s the problem.”
Eze is ‘facing a fight to secure his Arsenal future’
Arsenal are beginning to have similar worries to Merson, according to TEAMtalk, as ‘the concern is that a player recruited for a significant fee is in danger of becoming little more than a squad option, with no clear route into the starting XI.’
TEAMtalk insist that Eze is ‘facing a fight to secure his Arsenal future, with frustration growing on both sides and doubts emerging over his ability to establish himself as a regular under Mikel Arteta.’
TEAMtalk transfer correspondent Graeme Bailey insists Arsenal know that Eze “isn’t the answer on the left-hand side and insists the England international could now be lucky to get another league start before Christmas after his poor performance against Nottingham Forest.
Bailey explained: “The problem is that there is a position up for grabs at Arsenal – on the left. Everyone knows it, Arsenal do, and so does Eze. They also know he isn’t the answer.
“Despite arriving in a deal that is pushing towards £70million, he is clearly not seen as the solution, even in the short term, although all along we were told that he was signed as a 10, an attacking midfielder and not really a left-sided option.”
Bailey added: “Arsenal, when you talk to them, insist it is a squad game, but that is the issue for Eze – he is clearly a squad player at the Emirates and no more than that.
“Eze had a huge chance at the weekend to impress at Nottingham Forest and, for me, I think he will be lucky to have another league start between now and Christmas, such was the underwhelming display he turned out at the City Ground.”
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