Les Ferdinand makes astonishing claim about Arsenal star Eberechi Eze

Les Ferdinand has hailed Eberechi Eze as one of the finest players he has ever worked with in his career and is confident the forward will live up to expectations at Arsenal.

Having joined Arsenal for an initial fee of £60million this summer, Eze has already given fans a glimpse of what he will bring to Mikel Arteta’s attack in his opening five matches.

Eze provided an exquisite assist for Gabriel Martinelli to help Arsenal rescue a point against Manchester City – and the 26-year-old picked up where he left off on Wednesday night as the Gunners beat Port Vale in the Carabao Cup.

In only his third start for the club, Eze showed real composure to open the scoring at Vale Park, allowing the ball to go across his body before finding the bottom corner of Joe Gauci’s net.

Leandro Trossard secured Arsenal’s place in the fourth round with a second for the visitors in the 86th minute, setting up an all-Premier League encounter with Brighton.

Eze will no doubt be desperate to continue his run in the side this afternoon when Arteta’s men return to top-flight action against Newcastle at St James’ Park.

Ferdinand’s relationship with Eze stretches back over a decade to when he was appointed QPR’s head of football operations, with the England international just a teenager in the club’s youth ranks at that time.

Though Eze had been released by Arsenal’s academy just three years earlier, Ferdinand immediately saw something special in the youngster.

Asked if Arsenal is the right place for Eze, ex-Tottenham, Newcastle and England striker told Sky Sports: ‘Yes, I certainly believe it is.

‘When he left QPR, I’m being honest here, I felt he could go to Arsenal then. I felt he could go anywhere in the country.

‘People might say that it was the right step for him to go to Crystal Palace. I’m not disrespecting Crystal Palace in any way, shape or form.

‘But he’s one of those players that, when he plays with better players, he’ll become better, he’ll see the spaces and go into those areas and become a better player.’

‘We knew he had what I call flavour. You could give him the ball and he’d go past players, take people on.

‘If he didn’t do it, you’d just hear a voice in the background going, “Boring!”, and it would be Chris Ramsey going, “What are you doing? You can go past people, that’s why you’re on the pitch!”

‘So when I see him play now and watched him in the England game and I shouted, “Boring!”, quite a few times at the TV because he’s in there and he can do those bits and pieces.’

Ferdinand shared a dressing room with some of the greats of the game during his playing career, including the likes of Alan Shearer, Paul Gascoigne, Paul Scholes and David Ginola.

But despite some of the illustrious names he teamed up with in the past, Ferdinand classes Eze among the top three or four that he has ever worked with or witnessed first-hand.

‘I’ve played with some great players in my career. I’d put him in the top three or four players I’ve ever played with,’ he added.

‘I never played with Eze but just seeing him, seeing what he does, I’d put him in the top echelons of the three or four best players that I’ve ever played with.’

According to Ferdinand, Eze’s best position is No.10 and Arteta should resist the urge to play the attacker on the wing.

‘For me, I always saw him as a No.10, playing just behind the striker or if you’re playing two and one up front,’ he continued.

‘He finds those areas and what he can do is score goals as well so I wouldn’t want to take that from his game by playing him in midfield and not allowing him to get forward.

‘But then, you can see what he did in the last game where he played that pass.’

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