By Taiwo Ibrahim
Former Tottenham star Jermaine Defoe has revealed Eberechi Eze has failed to impress since joining Arsenal from Crystal Palace in the summer transfer window, Sportivationng.com reports.
Eze joined the Premier League leaders in a deal worth £60m plus £7.5m in add-ons in August after leading Crystal Palace to the FA Cup trophy last season.
He signed a four-year deal with the option of a further year, and was handed the No 10 shirt.
However, Eze has struggled for form since making the move to North London, he was hooked off in the first half of the disappointing 1-1 draw against Brentford on Thursday.
Reacting to Eze’s performance, Defoe opined that the England international was poor against Brentford.
He said: “I think so, yeah. (it was an uncharacteristic performance) I think it’s the pressure.
“But saying that, it’s a difficult place to go, you know what you’re getting when you go to Brentford. It’s not going to be easy, but you have to try to make it easy.
“Eze was not good enough. Although I still feel like he’s playing with the handbrake on. I know he hasn’t played games and probably is not match fit, but you still expect a little bit more.
“But they (Arsenal) were different tonight, and I think that’s a mentality thing.”
A total of 15 games have now passed in all competitions since Eze last registered a goal or assist.
In his last two Premier League starts, against Wolves in December and Brentford here, he has been removed from the game after 57 minutes and 45 minutes.
In both of those matches, Arsenal failed to have a single shot on target in the first half.
However, Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta, defended Eze’s performance against Brentford.
He said: “It’s not easy when you move to a new club, it’s always like this. And when you play against a team like this, and the ball is a lot of times not on the floor, you have to be constantly breaking the play. To do that, especially for attacking and creative players, it’s more difficult.”
Eze has five goals and four assists in 26 games for Arsenal this season but has not scored since that hat-trick against Spurs.
