'A very good offensive midfielder' - Crystal Palace manager agrees with Rohr about Eze

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson and Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr have said the same thing about England U21 international on the radar of the Nigeria Football Federation, Eberechi Eze.

Last week, Rohr described Eze as one of the best offensive midfielders he has ever seen in England and it is something that has been echoed by the Palace boss.

With what he is showing now, Eze has been tipped to be a future Premier League superstar and produced an impressive performance playing in a slightly different position against Leicester City four days ago, providing the assist for Wilfried Zaha's goal.

The former Queens Park Rangers dazzler has played in a variety of positions for the Eagles, including attacking midfielder, central midfielder, right midfielder and left midfielder.

Hodgson has lavished Eze with praise, adding that he is encouraging him to be an all-round midfielder.

Speaking to reporters at Friday's press conference, Hodgson stated : "Well Eberechi's a player that's played in lots of positions.

"He's a very talented ball player, a very good offensive midfielder. We're trying to encourage him to be a good all-round midfield player.

"I don't think it's a problem playing him in a position slightly in-field because that's where he spent a lot of his time for Queens Park Rangers. He even spent a lot of time centrally in behind the forward."

He added : "So it's just a different position that we asked him to play on Monday night in terms of giving us the set up to play Leicester that we wanted, but it certainly wasn't asking him to do anything that he's uncomfortable with, and if you ask him, of course, he prefers to be further infield than playing out wide".

Eze has been one of Crystal Palace's brightest sparks in this season's Premier League, playing 30 games with seven goal involvements. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel