Eberechi Eze ambles over to take the free-kick and as he does so, Eddie Nketiah scans his surroundings. It is still early in this Carabao Cup third-round tie and QPR’s defenders are busy getting organised. Eze and Nketiah make the briefest eye contact and the grift is on: Eze quickly slides the ball into a vacant channel down the right side of the box, and before a defender can react, Nketiah peels into space before unleashing a first-time shot through the goalkeeper’s legs.
It is Crystal Palace’s first glimpse of what to expect from their £25m summer signing, the second most expensive transfer in the club’s history. The understanding, the intelligence, the economy of effort: in one run and one touch, Nketiah showed the sharp edge he adds to a team. He runs to the corner flag to unveil his phone-call celebration for the first time in a Palace shirt – the first time since his final Arsenal goal, almost a year ago, when he sealed a hat-trick against Sheffield United in the Premier League.
Back then he was the man of the moment, having earned his first England cap a few days earlier, but what happened next is why he couldn’t stay at Arsenal any longer. Nketiah was dropped two games later and started only one more league game under Mikel Arteta all season. “It was about me being happy,” says the 25-year-old.
“I wasn’t unhappy – there were things I loved about the club, I’d been at Arsenal all my life – but at the end of the day, a football player wants .
