Arsenal's Eberechi Eze delivers more than just a 'magic moment' as Gunners ease into Champions League quarters

With five goals since the start of February, Eze is turning himself into a key difference maker for the Gunners

LONDON -- A club in Arsenal's position in the summer probably didn't need to drop $90 million on a player in the mold of Eberechi Eze. The boyhood fan was an undoubted superstar, but for Crystal Palace, and it is not a given that someone who has been the man on an upper midtable team will immediately adapt to a secondary or even tertiary role at a contender for the biggest prizes in the sport.

When he has just turned 27, has come off a season that, while unforgettable in the very biggest moments, was a little off the previous year and is not exactly used to playing in the style favored by Mikel Arteta, you have to wonder if this is the right move. The joy that swept from Eze up the Emirates Stadium when he was unveiled on a radiant summer's afternoon was enough to add a rosy hue to even the most stoney-faced assessments of the deal but how much of a pity would it have been if that dream move soured? 

Yes, Kai Havertz's injury needed addressing in the exact moment, but a four-year contract is quite the investment to plug a gap that, in that moment, did not seem like it would run into the new year. And of course, in that moment, no one was to know just how many injuries Martin Odegaard was going to have. So, Eze's signing was probably a riskier piece of business than it felt.

And isn't it a risk Arteta will be glad his employers took? For the biggest fee they committed to a player this summer, they have got something they really needed: a true shooter, the sort of attacker who can take Arsenal's controlled build-up and inject a little bit of oomph. In short, when the ball comes his way with his back to goal, he'll swivel and well, why don't you just enjoy the rest below?

A foot like a traction engine if ever there was one. On a night like Tuesday, where his side were beginning to slog in what would prove to be a 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen, Arsenal needed what their manager termed a "magic moment." They got one, just like they did in north London derby (take your pick of home and away), just like they did against his former club for his first goal in new colors.