‘Insane’ – Eberechi Eze emotional as huge mural of England star painted across wall in south London
Eberechi Eze couldn't stop smiling as he watched a mural of him being painted near his home town in south London.
The Crystal Palace forward is representing England at a major tournament for the first time this summer having made Gareth Southgate's final 26-man Euro 2024 squad.
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Now, a street artist in Bermondsey, south London, has honoured the former Millwall youngster's call-up for the competition by creating a giant mural on a wall on a local estate.
The Kirby Estate - dubbed the 'most patriotic estate in London' - now has a large painting of the Palace star at the centre of it, as well as hundreds of England flags and bunting.
Eze felt humbled as he reacted to a video of the mural - which features him in an England shirt with a large St George's cross to the left of him - being made.
"Nah this is deep man," he says with a smile bursting across his face. "In the ends as well!
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"This is insane man. This is insane. Your picture is painted on a wall somewhere.
"Someone's painted you. It's in the ends as well! So that's huge. My family are going to be out there taking a picture soon.
"Nah, grateful man. I feel like I'm representing the whole of south! That's what it feels like, probably not, but it feels like I am, man.
"Glory to God, man, glory to God."
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Eze grew up in Greenwich, south London, just a few miles down the road from the estate.
He started out in Arsenal's academy as a youngster, before moving onto Fulham, Reading, then Millwall, with The Den being the closest ground to where the mural has been painted.
Eberechi Eze puts on free tournament for youngsters in his local area called the Eze invitational
Now 25 years old, Eze started his senior career with QPR, which included a loan spell with Wycombe, and then moved to current team Palace, who are also south London based.
"In south London that's what they do man to celebrate someone, so to have my own now..." Eze, whose parents still live in Greenwich, continued. "My boys live there as well, that's what's mad.
"So they're going to be - yeah man, the group chat was going off! That's a big blessing man."
Street artist Mr Meana pointed to Eze's south London history when explaining his decision to paint the Palace star.
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"He is a local lad and we believe he's a fantastic prospect, a great player," he said.
Eze's England teammates Joe Gomez and Ezri Konsa are also representing south London in Germany.
The Liverpool and Aston Villa stars came through Charlton Athletic's academy and made first team appearances for the Addicks as they broke into senior football.
England's Euro 2024 gets underway on Sunday, as they take on Serbia in Group C, live on talkSPORT, kick-off 8pm.
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