Eberechi Eze used to be referred to as ‘Snake Hips’ by his former team-mates due to his incredible dribbling ability and agility, according to ex-Queens Park Rangers colleague Nedum Onuoha. The playmaker, who has been capped 13 times by England, is now lighting up the Premier League and Champions League with Arsenal after completing a summer transfer from Crystal Palace.
How Eze got to QPR following teenage heartbreak
Eze is widely regarded as one of the top flight’s most gifted attackers, but he has had to work hard to put himself in this position. He was released by Arsenal, Fulham, Reading and Millwall as an academy player, before finding a loving home at QPR in the Championship. It was in west London where he rubbed shoulders with Onuoha for two seasons before the veteran defender headed to Major League Soccer to finish his career with Real Salt Lake.
AdvertisementWatch the clipReason behind Eze's nickname revealed
Speaking on the Full Time Therapy podcast, Onuoha revealed how he was wary of Eze’s talent even at a young age, and how he is thrilled for his former team-mate to be thriving on football’s biggest stages.
"We used to call him ‘Snake Hips’!" Onuoha said. "He would just come towards you, give you one of these [shoulder drops] and you always take the bait on one of them. The reason why lots of people who have played with him speak so highly of him is because he’s a really good guy and he loves football. Like I saw him after the FA Cup final, and he’s like, ‘I can’t believe it, I never thought I’d be here’. All this stuff. This is someone at 27 where, in theory, the love of the game could have very well left the chat a long time ago. He adores it, a really good person."
Eze distraught after Arsenal rejection
Eze’s love of Arsenal made his release from the club as a teenager all the more heartbreaking. In a 2020 interview with , Eze said: "I was 13 [when I was released]. That was the worst one. I remember crying in my room for a solid week, my mum telling me that it’s going to be OK but not being able to get over it. Then I went to Fulham and I was finally starting to enjoy my football again. We played Arsenal a few months later but, when I went over to shake the academy manager’s hand, I started welling up. All the feelings came back."
Eze first joined QPR in 2016 and spent four years at Loftus Road before securing a Premier League move, joining Crystal Palace in the south of the capital city. It was at Palace where Eze made himself a household name in his home country, helping the Eagles up the table and eventually playing a starring role in their FA Cup triumph last season, securing the club’s first piece of major silverware.
