Former Chelsea defender Kenneth Omeruo revealed that Eberechi Eze left Arsenal at 13 because he did not meet the strict progression benchmarks in Europe’s elite youth academies, though this did not prevent him from later returning to the club and excelling.
Kenneth Omeruo has shed light on why Eberechi Eze departed Arsenal in 2011, explaining that European youth academies are highly competitive and unforgiving.
Speaking on Arise News, the former Chelsea centre-back said, “In Europe, every club has the U10s and U11s, and they graduate. Every year, there’s screening; if you don’t get to the next level, they take you out. For example, you know the story of Ebere [Eze] now playing for Arsenal. When he was in Arsenal, he couldn’t make it to the next level. It doesn’t mean that he wasn’t good enough or he would not get to that level, which he did at some point.”
Omeruo emphasized that Eze’s early setback was more about the depth of competition than lack of talent: “There are other players who were better than him then, so if you can’t get to the next level, you can go to another academy.”
Eze later developed his career at Fulham, Reading, and QPR before rising to prominence at Crystal Palace, eventually returning to Arsenal, where he scored the first hat-trick of his professional career against Tottenham Hotspur.