Nigeria target Eze opens up on potentially missing out on England's Euro 2020 squad

Published: September 21, 2021

Eberechi Eze has opened up on potentially missing out on the England squad to the 2020 European Championship.

Nigeria Football Federation boss Amaju Pinnick has held discussions with the Crystal Palace attacking midfielder over switching his international allegiance and turning out for the Nigeria national team but the player requested to be given time to make his decision as he wants to focus on his club career.

Eze, who trained with the Super Eagles in 2017, played non-binding games for England U20s before becoming provisionally cap-tied to his country of birth at U21 level.

The former Queens Park Rangers dazzler was part of Gareth Southgate's plans ahead of the Euros, only for him to suffer an Achilles injury in training a month before the start of the tournament.

Eze discovered that he would have been included in the Three Lions provisional squad for the Euros in the changing room, shortly after his injury.

Speaking to Premier League Productions via Palace's official website, Eze said : "I asked Danny [Young, Player Liaison Officer] if he could get my phone.

"He brings it and I see a message from someone from England. It wasn’t me being selected, but it was the provisional: ‘You could potentially be selected for the 30.’ So when I saw that I was just like: ‘Yeah, that makes sense. That’s probably about right.’

"The way I see it, if I was meant to be there [the Euros], I would have been there. God had another plan and He wanted to use this for whatever reason.

"I’ve just got to get my head around it… I had to put my phone down. I realised this is God’s plan because you couldn’t write that. At all.

"From where I’ve come from to this point now, this is far beyond anything I could control."

Eze started two of the three matches played by the Young Lions at the 2021 U21 Euro, scoring once in a 2-1 win versus Croatia.

The 23-year-old had a good debut season in the Premier League, scoring four goals and providing six assists in 34 games - 29 of which he started.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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