Crystal Palace Crowd-Pleaser Eberechi Eze Reveals How Barcelona Icon Inspired Him

Crystal Palace crowd-pleaser Eberechi Eze has revealed that he draws inspiration from retired Brazil international Ronaldinho.

The England U21 international of Nigerian descent says he has learned a lot by watching past videos of the Barcelona legend and is enamoured by his idol's ability to entertain.

Eze has had a bright start to his career at Crystal Palace and winning two Player of the Month awards since his arrival at Selhurst Park is a testament to his popularity with the fans.

"I don’t think there’s anything anyone can show me now that I haven’t seen of him," Eze said to Crystal Palace's official website.

"I’ve watched so many videos of him… I want someone to show me a video that I haven’t seen.

"Honestly,we’d come home from school or whatever we were doing, go on the computer and just type in ‘Ronaldinho’.

"Any video we saw, whether it be him playing football or doing whatever, we just watched it.

"There’s probably no video you could show us that we hadn’t seen before. Even now, I type in ‘Ronaldinho’ and still watch him. That’s how much of an impact he’s had on me."

Eze went on to reveal that he wants to entertain fans just as Ronaldinho did in his playing days.

"Growing up watching Ronaldinho, he’s the perfect example of an entertainer.

"Of course I don’t play the same as him or anything like that but it’s just having that idea of: ‘I want to enjoy myself and while I enjoy myself I’m positive that I’ll be entertaining people as well," the Palace number 25 added.

Igho Kingsley