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Eberechi Eze has picked out a “special player and special guy” at Arsenal and an “incredible” England star as the players who have impressed him most for club and country.

Eze returned to Arsenal in a £60m transfer from Crystal Palace in the summer having failed to make the grade at the Emirates as a youth, and is vying for a place in Thomas Tuchel’s squad for the World Cup having scored two goals in the last three Three Lions games.

Asked on the Beast Mode On podcast which England star has impressed him most, Eze picked out Marcus Rashford as the guy he came away from training thinking “this guy’s part of some other stuff”.

He said: “You know, training when you’re training somebody is always a bit different from when you play against them.

“I’d say my first session was Rashy [Marcus Rashford].

“So I’ve known him or known of him because he’s played in a similar age group. Across the country, when you go to tournaments, you see him and stuff like that. And so I’ve always known he’s a good player, but for that first camp, I remember going away like, okay, this guy’s part of some other stuff.

“The way he strikes the ball. The way he’s running with the ball, how he operates is. He’s an incredible, incredible player. And so, nah, I’ll be honest, I enjoy watching him.”

Eze is now part of an Arsenal squad going great guns in the Premier League, sitting four points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table.

And the playmaker picked out one of the Gunners’ many quality defenders as the player who’s “gone beyond the high expectation” he had of him.

He added: “Everyone, sort of what you expect them to be, okay. And the expectation of all the players is high.

“I’ll say one player has gone even beyond the high expectation I already had because I’d heard good things about him, was Timbo [Jjurian Timber]. He’s a special player and a special guy.

“I think for me, in an environment of people and you have a culture that is geared towards improving, and these guys all want to improve.

“So for me, this is it’s a pleasure to be part of it. And to see guys like him who perform the way they perform, they carried themselves where they carried themselves.”