Ebereechi Eze was from the play-off of Crystal Palace League First-Leg against Fredrikstad in Selhurst Park on Thursday evening after he had called Oliver Glasner manager
Oliver Glasner could not hide his disappointment after he explained why Ebereechi Eze had already played his last game for Crystal Palace. Eze will join Arsenal in the coming days after the Gunners Tottenham bowed to close a £ 67.5 million deal.
The 27-year-old midfielder is expected to undergo a medical in the coming days after Arsenal corresponded the personal conditions and had reached Palace's asking price. Arsenal sports director Andrea Berta and vice-chairman Tim Lewis quickly moved to close the deal on Wednesday after Kai Havertz had sustained an injury.
Eze trained with Palace on Wednesday and prepared to play against Fredrikstad in the first stage of their play-off from the conference in Selhurst Park on Thursday evening. Glasner is happy to continue to select Eze and Captain Marc Guehi, despite constant conversations about their departure to Arsenal and Liverpool respectively.
But it emerged in the hours before the kick -off that Eze would not play his 168th game for Palace. Instead, he would look at the game as a spectator and spoke before the kick-off, it became clear who had made that decision.
“To be honest, I expected that he would start for us today,” Glasner told Channel 5. “But he called me this morning and told me that he is not feeling well to play in the evening and I have to accept it and everything else that you have to ask the chairman.”
Asked what his reaction was, added Glasner: “Again, I have to accept it if a player tells me that he is not ready to play. Then of course I called the player who starts instead, what Justin Devenny is, to check if he is ready, because it is my responsibility to prepare the players who play in the best way for us.
“You don't like to change your start XI on MatchDay, especially in this situation – it's the first time in European football for Crystal Palace – but again, we have to deal with it and this is what we do in the best way.”
It was thought that Palace might want to protect their club record sales, with an injury that possibly closed the deal. But it seems that Eze was unable to pull the Paleishemd again instead. It now seems that his last performance on Sunday came in the 0-0 draw against Chelsea.
Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta said: “We know he is a very good player, one of the best in our group. Everyone knows that he will not be here today, but we have a large group of talented players who will give 100 percent.”