‘God was speaking to me’ - Arsenal star Eberechi Eze reveals his incredible reaction to receiving first England call-up moments after suffering serious Achilles injury in training

Back in May 2021 and then at Crystal Palace, the attacker was informed that he'd been selected as part of a pool of players to potentially represent England, having shone throughout his debut season at Selhurst Park.

However, Eze didn't receive the message until after a training session in which the 27-year-old suffered a serious Achilles injury that ruled him out of action until November that same year. "It is devastating, particularly for him," Then-Palace boss Roy Hodgson told TNT Sport. "He has had a good season and such a good start to his Premier League career, getting better and better and is such a good guy as well."

That injury meant Eze didn't win his first England cap until 2023, though he has since gone on to become a mainstay in the national team setup, and recently scored in the 2-0 home win over Serbia in World Cup qualifying. 

Asked about getting his first provisional England call-up on the same day he ruptured his Achilles tendon in 2021, Eze said exclusively to GOAL'sBeast Mode On podcast: "So at that point I was in a good little period where I’d been playing well and doing my thing so I felt comfortable - this is my first year at Palace.

"I didn't get the message [about a potential England call up] until after the training session. So I went out for training, went to just push off and felt my Achilles pop. [I was] looking around and no one's there, you're thinking someone's kicked you but no.

"I've then gone in. They've taken me in, doctors, they've said, ‘yeah, it's ruptured’. I’ve gone to check my phone to call my wife, to tell her what's happened, and I see a message from the England guys. It was the provisional message that you get.

"You get a message that says that you've been part of a pool of players who can be selected for this international camp. So I could have been one of however many players to get that message. So not selected but in the conversation. But for me at that point, that would have been enough. I've never been in that situation, with the first team it’s different.

"In that moment, before I saw the message, tears - this is pain. I can’t believe this. Right when I'm in my stride and I'm feeling myself right now."

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Eze, though, believes that the timing of the message meant a higher power was calling to him, continuing: "To get that message, though, in that moment, it felt like God was speaking to me and telling me ‘you're good, you're good’.

"I honestly believe if I was meant to go to that camp then I would’ve went to it. So no matter what position my foot was in or whatever, if I wasn't supposed to have that injury that day, I wouldn't have had it. But I did, and I saw the message at that time. 

"Why didn’t I do my Achilles the day before and get the message the next day? Why did it have to be that way? So it happened that way and I believe because God wanted it to happen that way. 

"The sooner I started to let go of my processing of why and this and that… this is God's thing. God is the orchestrate of all of this. And he's working this thing out how he wants to work out. For me, I’ve just found so much more peace from that moment. It was a big shift in my faith."