Secret behind Eberechi Eze’s Euros redemption? A Russian gymnast

Palace forward took inspiration from Olympian to recover in rapid time from Achilles injury that destroyed Euro 2020 dream

Eberechi Eze has revealed taking inspiration from a Russian gymnast when making a comeback in the half the time expected from the Achilles injury that wrecked his last European Championship.

The Crystal Palace forward, 25, was in the provisional squad for Euro 2020 but only received his confirmation text message in the dressing room after suffering his ruptured tendon in training.

He has climbed above Jack Grealish, Marcus Rashford and James Maddison in Gareth Southgate’s pecking order this season, with the journey back to putting himself in the frame starting after being told the story of Artur Dalaloyan, the Olympic gymnast who won gold at the 2020 Games after recovering from a torn Achilles in fewer than four months.

“I remember speaking to loads of people and there were so many different times, they would say six months, nine months,” Eze said. “I was hearing about a gymnast who came back in four, three-and-a-half months. So my mindset was whatever he’s been doing I’m going to do that as well.

“I returned to full training in four and a half months, and then was with the team, coming off the bench. That for me was the biggest test I’ve experienced.”

Eze insists recovering from his injury was tougher than any of the experiences of being rejected as a teenager when Arsenal, Fulham, Reading and Millwall all turned him down before he joined QPR at 18.

“It’s a good question,” came his reply when asked why clubs could not see his talent. “If I’m honest I don’t look back on me being released and feel like I didn’t deserve to be released.

“I got ‘not really working hard enough’ or ‘not really suiting the style of play’ of a club. Again, you look at them as reasons and I’ll be honest, I don’t fully understand the reasons why, it wasn’t really explained clearly, like ‘OK, this makes sense’.

“Maybe not executing it as consistently as I am now, which is possible and being so young. Different clubs have different ideas of how they want their players to be at that age, and what they look for to see a professional player. They tried to make a decision and they are making calls all the time. They are going to get some wrong.”

While at Palace his high-intensity runs have steadily increased over the course of his four seasons at the club, with Oliver Glasner taking it further with his new style since arriving in February.

“The manager is top, high level,” he said. “I enjoy working with him. He’s brought in some new ideas and definitely brought something different to work with. We feel stronger, fitter, more capable of doing the things we know we can do. That was the thing we were missing. He’s demanding a lot more of us, it’s fun, it’s enjoyable. I feel like that’s going to be the way it is for him.”

This time around when the text came, Eze says he felt nothing but gratitude after missing his chance three years ago. He adds to the list of players who have come through the English Football League into Gareth Southgate’s squad, with his time at QPR including a loan spell at Wycombe in League Two when he played the likes of Accrington Stanley.

“You do look back, I always try to appreciate how far I’ve come. It’s a big difference from Accrington Stanley to where I am now,” he said.