Eberechi Eze described a frenetic summer transfer period but said he never doubted his next step as he completed a move to Arsenal and was unveiled at the Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old, a boyhood Arsenal fan who spent time in the club\u2019s academy, moved quickly once the club renewed their interest. Arsenal had held a meeting months earlier where the basic framework for a move was agreed, but the process fell quiet for an extended spell and at one stage it appeared he was close to joining Tottenham Hotspur instead.<\/p>\n
Just four days separated news of Arsenal\u2019s bid and Eze\u2019s presentation on the pitch, a swift sequence he said he tried to savour. The introduction at the Emirates Stadium was, he added, a \u201cspecial\u201d moment for him and his family.<\/p>\n
On the uncertainty and media attention, Eze was measured. \u201cWorried? No. Because I play football,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I do and wherever I am, I want to be the best I can be and I\u2019m confident I\u2019ll do that wherever I am.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m grateful that it\u2019s Arsenal and that I\u2019ve got the opportunity to play there and do what I do and I\u2019m looking forward to it. There\u2019s a lot going on, it\u2019s fun for me. This is why I play football. These are opportunities that you want. This is for me so I am enjoying it as much as I can. And do what I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the presentation, Eze said he focused on the moment and on what it meant to those closest to him. \u201cI was trying to [take it all in] because as you know, you have that moment and then that it\u2019s gone,\u201d he continued.\u201cI was just there, looking at the crowd and watching everything happen and it was a cool moment\u2014more for my family, seeing what it meant to them. I think that\u2019s the special thing for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, now, I\u2019m just excited to play, excited to do my thing on the pitch, to work hard, apply myself and get to doing what I do. There\u2019s been a lot of noise off the pitch but I just want to get down and play.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s not everyone that gets to experience these types of moments but yeah, I try to enjoy it and take it in my stride as much as possible because there\u2019s always something that is coming. There is always another opportunity and challenge coming so that\u2019s how I see it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eberechi Eze on remaining calm during transfer noise and savouring his Emirates Stadium presentation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2584,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,187],"tags":[414],"class_list":["post-2585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-tottenham-hotspur","tag-eberechi-eze"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}