Rio Ferdinand has suggested the perfect option for Arsenal in midfielder as a potential replacement for Granit Xhaka. Having picked up Jorginho as a short-term option in January the Gunners are still looking for further reinforcements in the centre of the park.
They are, like many clubs, interested in signing Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice heading into the summer having put themselves in a position whereby Champions League football is on offer. The price of the England duo is likely to go well in advance of at least £70m each though.
It is also not just the deepest midfield role that Ferdinand can see Arsenal looking at in the future. With Thomas Partey acting as the anchor and physical presence, Xhaka and Martin Odegaard operate as attack minded No8s either side of the Ghana international. Despite a stellar season, the Swiss man has come in for criticism in recent weeks following his red-tempered coming together with Trent Alexander-Arnold at Anfield.
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Alongside this, Xhaka is now 30 and acts as one of the most senior members of a young squad. After a U-turn in form and popularity at the Emirates Stadium, Xhaka is hardly one that will be moving on immediately but planning for his eventual departure is the type of steamlined business that Edu has mastered.
Coming in at the top of the list for Ferdinand in that role is Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze. The English attacking midfielder has hit top form since Roy Hodgson took over, registering three goals in his last two appearances. At 24 he has made 78 appearances in the top flight but has cemented himself as one of the best players to watch.
“Smooth," Ferdinand described him as. "If you’re talking about one of the smoothest ballers in the game, in the Premier League right now, Eze’s up there,” he said on his Rio Ferdinand Presents FIVE YouTube channel.
“Mad player. He’s playing like he’s in the cage. Just smooth, man. He doesn’t seem fazed either. Every situation you put him in, he’s just calm. And he’s in that position where he turns and faces up midfielders or defenders; he can go past people, slip people in and finish."
Having left Arsenal as a teenager Ferdinand can also see him donning the red shirt in north London once more, adding: "He’d be good at Arsenal, you know. In the [Granit] Xhaka position. Another year.”
Eze still has 18 months left on his deal but is one of the most attractive players to watch in full flow. As a young player who has spent his career moving around London he also fits the make-up of Arsenal's squad. It would be a big call to return to the club that let him go as a youth prospect in 2011.
“I’m 13 at the time, and prior to this everyone was being offered two-year contracts and I wasn't offered one, so immediately I’m already in tears about that,” Eze told Premier League Productions of how he was told of the decision to let him go.
“So that year’s now over and I was called into a meeting and they told me, ‘Listen we don’t think you’re going to excel here’. I just remember before he even finished speaking I was already gone, in tears.
“You’re trying to hold it in, you’re trying to be grateful, saying ‘thank you’ and just trying to get out of there, but it was so overwhelming. I just remember walking down the stairs and thinking, this is the worst.
“My mum, she was there with me and she was extremely upset so it was like, where do you go from here? Arsenal being the club that I’ve supported and the team I’ve held dearly to my heart at this time, it feels like, ‘wow what is next? What do I even do? Where do I go?’ It was a real moment of loss at that time.”
Since then he has played at Fulham, Milwall, Wycombe, Reading and Palace. He has also been capped at England youth level and is coming to the attention of top clubs once more.
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