Queens Park Rangers Of England midfielder, Eberechi Eze has expressed profound excitement with the helpful atmosphere he is gaining at the English Championship club, where he says the manager and his teammates have played very key roles in shaping his career, megasportsarena.com reports.
With his career progressing in leaps and bounds since he hit QPR’s main team at the start of this season, Eze admits it has been a wonderful experience for him, but went on to acknowledge the role being played by the manager, Mark Warburton in shaping his talent for the better.
He also pointed at two other Nigerian-born players in The Rs, Bright Samuel-Osayi and Mide Shodipo, as well as his British pal, Ilias Chair, who he says are very close to him and are part of the best squad bonding experience he is now citing as very key to his ascent into the birth spotlight so far in the campaign.
The 21-year-old has starred for Warburton’s side in just his third full season as a professional, during which he has scored 12 goals, provided eight assists and continues earning widespread acclaim, having set tongues wagging before the Championship campaign was halted due to the coronavirus outbreak.
He, however, admitted that, just a few short years ago, he only held fairytale dreams of reaching such heights and making that become a reality was hanging by a thread, especially after he was released by Fulham, and he thought his journey into football’s stardom had been truncated.
His exploits in the second tier have, naturally, drawn Premier League clubs to his talent and in January he was reportedly linked with Tottenham, Southampton and Sheffield United. Fans of the west London club are preparing, knowing the inevitable may be just around the corner.
In years gone by, including a loan spell with Wycombe Wanderers in 2017/18, Eze confessed that he felt disillusioned by the rocky start to life in the round leather game, but he has now developed a sharper focus and overcome the negative influence, and told The Football Show how QPR revived his career after rejections by some English Premier League sides.
Eze told Sky Sports: “I started at Arsenal when I was eight and I was there until about 13. I got released and then went to Fulham from 13 to 16. I got released from Fulham around the Christmas period so I went to Reading until the end of the season and got released there.
“I was sort of stranded looking for a club, then thankfully got Millwall. I did a two-year scholarship there, they then released me. I went on trial to I don’t know how many teams during that summer [2016], but thankfully QPR gave me the opportunity and that’s where I am now.
“I can say it now because I understand, but at the time, I probably didn’t. I think I was getting released a lot of the time because of my work-rate. Now it’s clicked with me in the sense of I actually understand what it means to work hard. You can tell someone to work hard but not really explain it to them and them not really get it.
“I think it’s only now that I’ve started to understand where I should be running, not just telling me to run but understanding where I should run, where I should make movements, how I should press. It’s something that I’ve learned getting older, which is probably the most important thing I’ve added to my game.
“I think last season was such a big learning point for me because I’ve learned to deal with stuff like this. Because it was my first season, I didn’t exactly know how to handle it. I’d be looking into stuff and I could feel it affecting my game and I wasn’t maybe as focused as I should’ve been.
“This season, of course, I’m seeing the stuff that is in front of me but I’m not allowing it to affect what I’m doing. The most important thing is what I’m doing on the pitch and as long as I continue to focus on that, everything else will fall into place. I want to play at the highest level.
“Honestly, it’s so good playing for QPR because I enjoy going in every day and that’s how you play the best football in your career. You’re free in the mind, you’re not worried going in, you’re not anxious or anything like that – you feel confident to do your job.
“We’ve got Ilias, Bright, me, Mide ; we’ve got young players in the team that are very good players, pushing on to do greater things. It’s just good to be in and around them and to work with such good people.”
