Arsenal released Eze at 13. Sunday he put three past Tottenham at the Emirates wearing their No. 10 shirt. The rejection-to-redemption angle writes itself, but what happened in between matters more.

Academy rejections don’t usually end this way. Arsenal cut him. Fulham, Reading, Millwall—all brought him in, watched him train, then passed. Most kids in that situation disappear. Eze cried in his room for days after the first release, yet kept going.

QPR gambled in 2016. He impressed on trial, earned a contract, went to Wycombe on loan to get tougher. When he came back, QPR built around his ability to glide past pressure without getting rattled. By the time Crystal Palace paid up in 2020, coaches were talking about him in terms of balance and composure, not just skill.

Palace wasn’t a smooth ride either. He tore his Achilles, missed a tournament, had to rebuild his rhythm. When it came back, it hit hard. Last May he scored the only goal in the FA Cup final against Manchester City. Palace’s first major trophy. A spot in Europe.

Then UEFA’s multi-club ownership mess kicked Palace out of the Europa League and down to the Conference League. The same summer, Eze picked England over Nigeria. He’s said more than once he looks at that call with no regret. Highest level of football, chance he couldn’t turn down.

Arsenal’s move this summer carried weight beyond tactics. Eze has admitted he treated every Palace match against Arsenal like a personal audition. Tottenham thought they had the inside track all summer. Arsenal showed up late with $86 million and took him.

The first few months were fine. A League Cup goal, a winner against his old club, some tidy link-up play. Nothing explosive. Arsenal won matches while rivals dropped points. Spurs fans kept circling back to the same question: what if he’d signed with us?

Sunday was brutal.

Tottenham sat deep, clogged the middle, hoped for turnovers. Arsenal fed Eze in the space between midfield and defense over and over. Trossard finished first after Merino split Spurs open. Then Eze took over.

First goal: Rice recycled a clearance, found Eze on the edge of the box. One touch, one finish, Vicario moving the wrong way before the shot left his foot.

Second goal: same pocket of space just after halftime, left foot this time, Spurs’ defense collapsing around Saka. Richarlison’s chip made it 3–1 for about ten minutes. Didn’t matter.

Third goal: Eze drifted into the channel, Trossard slid him in, one touch to open up, curling finish past Vicario. Hat-trick complete.

First player to score a Premier League north London derby hat-trick ever. First Arsenal player with three against Spurs in any competition since Alan Sunderland in 1978.

The numbers will circulate for days—three goals from quality chances, more successful carries into the final third than any Tottenham player even attempted. Arteta called him magic. The real story is simpler: three months ago people argued about whether Arsenal needed another luxury creator. Now Spurs fans are looking at what they missed and Arsenal fans are watching a kid they released become the best player on the pitch in a north London derby.

Eze said afterward that words can’t explain it. He’s wrong. The scoreboard explains it fine. Arsenal were right to come back. Tottenham were wrong to wait. Eze kept running when most kids would’ve quit. That’s the whole story.