'Nigeria's loss is England's gain' - Monaco legend says he's a big fan of Crystal Palace dazzler Eze

Monaco great Victor Ikpeba has expressed regret over Nigeria losing Eberechi Eze, noting that England is now enjoying the talent of the former Super Eagles invitee.

Nigeria initially made the move to cap Eze by inviting him to train with the Super Eagles in March 2017 ahead of a friendly with Burkina Faso but could not bag him as the friendly was later called off.

The former Arsenal schoolboy played a cap-tying game for his country of birth on June 16, 2023, when he came off the bench against Malta in a European Championship qualifier.

Since then, Eze has earned ten caps for the Three Lions and scored his first goal in a World Cup qualifier against Latvia last month.

Former president of the Nigeria Football Federation Amaju Pinnick's pursuit of the attacking midfielder was intense in the weeks leading up to the 2022 World Cup playoff against the Black Stars of Ghana and the football administrator arranged a face-to-face confidential meeting with the Crystal Palace star at his home in London.  

Eze told Pinnick in their meeting that he would play for the Super Eagles only if they made it to the World Cup, but that possibility vanished after Nigeria lost the 2022 World Cup ticket to the Black Stars.

The 26-year-old is having another outstanding season at Crystal Palace with fifteen goal involvements (6 goals, 9 assists) in 31 all-competition appearances.

He was the star of the show as the Eagles thrashed Alex Iwobi's Fulham in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup last weekend, scoring and registering an assist in a 3-0 win.

Speaking on SuperSport's Monday Night Football, which was monitored by allnigeriasoccer.com, Ikpeba stated: "It was an Eze show. Nigeria's loss is England's gain. I've always been a big fan of this young lad. 

"We saw two or three seasons ago what he can do with the ball; he's very good with dead-ball situations, like free kicks.

"There's a lot of energy in his game, so I attribute this success (against Fulham) to Eze scoring the first goal and Nketiah scoring the third."

Besides Eze, Nigeria was unable to convince Bukayo Saka, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori, all of whom opted to play for England.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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