EFL Championship has recently been known as “a league of talents”.
Many young prospects made their names during a few recent seasons and used it as a platform to head for bigger clubs.
Besides foreign talents, homegrown youngsters are also getting attention through their impressive performances.
The likes of Ché Adams, Ryan Sessegnon or Daniel James had become key players for their respective sides and secured big moves this summer.
Still, a few names such as Jarrod Bowen, Darragh Lenihan or Dael Fry remain at the club and are expected to have a breakthrough season in front of them.
Among the players who are still plying their trade for the clubs, Eberechi Eze stands out as one of the promising talents who should be playing at a higher level.
Eberechi Eze style of play and technical abilities bring him a first-team spot at Queens Park Rangers.
To understand what his strongest attributes are, we must use statistics and footage to analyse his influence on QPR tactics.
Additionally, this tactical football analysis and scout report will provide an assessment of whether Eze is ready for a higher level of football.
Eberechi Eze Stats
Starting his career among Millwall’s youth ranks, Eze moved to Queens Park Rangers U23 team in 2016.
A year later, he had his first full season playing first-team football after being loaned to Wycombe Wanderers.
He was immediately recalled back to his parent club during that same season and got his Championship debut.
His career lifted off since then, making a total of 67 appearances across all competitions in three seasons for QPR.
He also had eight goals and registered six assists in the process.
He is a versatile player who can play in most of the midfield roles, but his preferred position is a central attacking midfielder.
Eze is capable of playing in a front three, occupying both the left- and right-winger spot and able to lead the line in the striker’s role.
Furthermore, he made a few cameos as a left wing-back for England U20 when they participated in last summer’s Toulon Tournament.
Statistically speaking, he has performed well for the club last season.
On average, he made 25.48 passes (with the accuracy rate of 83.9%), 1.23 long passes (33.3%) and 3.36 passes to final third (74%) per game.
He also took on 13.85 attacking duels per game, winning 40.4% of them.
As a player who tends to dribble, he usually dribbles the ball by himself and completes 56% of 5.36 dribbling attempts per game.
In the defensive perspective, he is an active player who usually supports his teammates.
The numbers also support this statement, with 4.03 defensive duels won (54.1% of them), 2.23 interceptions, and 3.49 recoveries per game.
Eberechi Eze Playmaking role
Last season, Eze was used as an attacking midfielder right behind target man Nakhi Wells or Tomer Hemed in the 4-4-1-1 formation.
In the role of both the team’s primary playmaker and shadow striker, his responsibilities were to provide the goals while linking up with the midfielders and bringing them into play.
This season, under Mark Warburtons tactics, the central attacking midfielder spot in his 4-2-3-1 formation is occupied by Ilias Chair and Matt Smith.
Eze is now playing slightly to the lef,t and he is also being moved to the opposite side on a few occasions, specifically in the game against Wigan.
But for a player who prefers to play with both feet like him, it won’t be a significant obstacle when he adapts to a new position.
Still, he remains as a playmaker but also takes on a more dynamic role, which allows him to be flexible on and off the ball.
When the team built their attacks from the back, Eze tends to drop deep and offer a passing option.
Playing just below him are Dominic Ball and Josh Scowen, two ball-winning midfielders.
Although they are comfortable on the ball, their primary role requires them to focus more on defence.
With Eze dropping deep, they can continue the build-up process using short passes among the defenders and then lay it off for the English youngster.
It’s also worth noting that QPR have two centre-backs who are more than capable of being involved frequently in the build-up process.
Last season, both Grant Hall and Yoann Barbet made an average of 34.46 and 48.68 passes, respectively.
The former spent the majority of the first half of the season recovering from injury and on the bench, but he still contributed much to the team’s effort.
The latter also had his first half of the season playing as a left-back and only returned to the centre-back spot when Chris Mepham left Brentford.
Against a team that tends to defend deep inside their half and create overloads across the pitch, Eze’s positioning is crucial.
When he picks up the ball from the defenders, he can change the team’s attacking direction by making a long pass towards the winger on the opposite side.
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