Oliver Glasner makes Eberechi Eze feelings very clear after Crystal Palace U-turn
Eberechi Eze looks to be on the verge of a move to Tottenham Hotspur from Crystal Palace but an exit might not be as straightforward as first thought with Oliver Glasner now speaking out
Oliver Glasner named Eberechi Eze in Crystal Palace's starting XI vs Chelsea on Sunday, despite an imminent move to Tottenham - with the Palace boss continuing to sing the praises of his star man.
Eze has been identified as a priority target for Thomas Frank’s men with talks between the clubs advancing in recent days. It was duly suggested that those talks had moved forward to the extent that Eze would not play a part in Crystal Palace’s Premier League season opener at Stamford Bridge, ahead of a potential £60m switch.
However Eze duly started in west London, despite the speculation, with Glasner continuing to be full of praise for the England international. Asked by Sky Austria which player currently embodies the spirit he has built at Selhurst Park, he only had one answer: “Eberechi Eze – a player who can score a goal out of nowhere that brings us victory. Sometimes you need that kind of momentum, without everyone having played tactically perfect and eight one-twos beforehand.”
Glasner has also sent Palace chiefs a warning over the futures of Eze - and Marc Guehi who has been linked with Liverpool. He has claimed that improvement could be difficult should the pair be sold.
Asked what his targets are for the forthcoming campaign, the Austrian responded: “That obviously depends on how the transfer window goes. If you constantly lose your best players and don’t replace them accordingly, it will be difficult to maintain or even improve your level.
“Except for the first eight match days, we finished at least seventh for the rest of last season. If that’s possible, I can’t think of any reasons why we couldn’t achieve that for the entire season.”
Elsewhere, Spurs boss Thomas Frank also dropped a hint about his side’s pursuit of Eze. Speaking after his side’s opening day win vs Burnley, he said: “We are definitely in the market.
Would Eberechi Eze be a good signing for Spurs? Share your thoughts in the comments below
"I said it before, Daniel and Johan and Vinai are working relentlessly to try to do their best to improve the squad, but we only want to improve the squad if we can get players in that can improve squad. I want to keep it like is.”
Asked specifically about Eze, the Dane elected to remain slightly more tight-lipped. He said: “I have that nice principle that I would like to speak about the players that are in-house and all the other speculations I don't want to speak too much about that.”