Arsenal and Mikel Arteta reach decision on selling £67.5m flop Eberechi Eze | OneFootball

Amid a series of damning statistics regarding Eberechi Eze, a report has revealed Arsenal’s true plans for the £67.5m summer signing.

Arsenal were in dreamland when hijacking Tottenham’s move for Eze last summer, and the early signs suggested the playmaker might be a difference-maker in The Gunners’ 20-plus year quest to win a Premier League title.

Eze provided two assists in his first three Premier League games for Arsenal, before notching his first goal against old club Crystal Palace soon after.

The strike proved to be the matchwinner, and not long after, Eze bagged a hattrick to sink Tottenham 4-1 in the north London derby.

Those hattrick heroics came in late-November, but in the three months since, Eze has not registered a single goal or assist in the Premier League.

He’s crashed down Arteta’s pecking order, and was even an unused substitute for four successive league games around the turn of the year.

His only league start in the last two months came against Brentford last weekend, in which Eze was hooked at half time.

The dramatic fall from grace has led to questions regarding Arteta’s handling of the player, and more pertinently, whether he has a long-term future at The Emirates.

But according to Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke, Arsenal are not ready to push the panic button and have no plans to move Eze on after one sub-par season.

O’Rourke explained: “Arsenal will not entertain the idea of letting Eberechi Eze leave under any circumstances this summer.

“Mikel Arteta still has ‘big plans’ for the attacking midfielder at the Emirates Stadium, and the player himself also feels that he still has a key role to play within the Gunners’ squad.”

Doubling down, O’Rourke went on to reaffirm Arteta still has total belief in Eze and his struggles this term may be a simple case of adapting to a new club with new teammates and a new playing style.

Much will therefore be expected of Eze next season, especially given at age 27, he is very much a signing for the present and not the future.

In other news, Fabrizio Romano has delivered an emphatic update on the future of Leon Goretzka who has been linked with Manchester United and Arsenal, among others.