Jamie Carragher apologized to Arsenal star Eberechi Eze following his outstanding performance during his first North London derby appearance on Sunday evening.
The star of the show at the Emirates was the Gunners derby debutant, who scored the first hat-trick in the fixture since 1978 as Mikel Arteta’s men easily defeated a badly depleted Tottenham team 4-1.
When Eze was getting ready to leave Crystal Palace this summer, he was on the verge of signing with his new team’s fiercest rivals, thus his presence for the winning team was sort of a “sliding-doors” moment.
Rather, Eze returned to his childhood team in a £67 million transfer that nearly caught Spurs off guard. At the time, Carragher downplayed the deal in his evaluation of the best summer business.
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Carragher Took Back His Words On Eze’s Transfer To Arsenal
However, following Eze’s commanding performance on Sunday, Carragher felt compelled to openly explain his thoughts.
“I must be honest. In the summer when Arsenal signed him, and I had my Liverpool hat on, and I looked at the signings Arsenal made… they signed (Victor) Gyokeres.
“It felt like a lot of them were to strengthen the squad, really,’ Carragher said on pundity duties for Sky Sports as quoted by the Daily Mail.
“Where Arsenal had problems the year before was when Saka was out, so they brought Madueke. Odegaard was out, so they got Eze. One of the centre-backs was missing, so they got a couple of centre-backs.
“It was only really Gyokeres who I felt was going to go in the team. And if I’m being honest, I think if (Kai) Havertz was 100 per cent fit, Havertz would probably be the centre forward in this team.
“When Eze came in, I thought, “Okay, maybe it’s not a gamechanger”. We’ve seen some of his highlights this season, there’s been a few great goals in there. And then he goes and scores a hat-trick.
“So, apologies. I certainly undervalued the importance that signing was, because he looks like he could make the real difference for Arsenal and go on and win the title.”
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