Queens Park Rangers' director of football Les Ferdinand has revealed that Crystal Palace made an enquiry about the availability of striker Eberechi Eze during the January transfer window, and admitted the R's may struggle to hold onto their star man beyond the summer.
Eze has emerged as one of the most exciting young talents in the Championship this season, attracting interest from a host of Premier League clubs - with Tottenham Hotspur the current favourites to land the England Under-21 international.
Former Spurs striker Ferdinand confirmed to the Beautiful Game Podcast (as reported by the Standard) that the Eagles showed an interest in Eze in January, saying: "Palace made an enquiry but we never got to any fee or any negotiations in terms of what it was going to take."
Eze has been on fire for QPR this season, contributing twelve goals and eight assists, and Ferdinand said of the midfielder: “I think if you look at his footballing abilities, I could put him down as one of the best I’ve seen in terms of what I’ve played with and been fortunate to play with during my career.
“When I see some of the things he does on the football, and how comfortable he is on the football, I put him up there with one of the best I’ve seen."
With such high interest from Spurs and Palace, amongst other Premier League clubs, Ferdinand admitted it will be tough to hold on to his man, saying: "We don’t want to see him go because we are trying to build something here.
“But at the same time we know that along the way we are going to lose one or two assets and that usually enables us to replenish the squad which, like I said because of Financial Fair Play and the way things work in the Championship at the moment, for us as a football club it is the only way we can survive and move forward.”
