Eccentric cleaner, player said (9)
I believe the answer is:
character
'eccentric' is the definition.
(I know that eccentric can be written as character)
'cleaner player said' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'cleaner' could be 'char' (charwoman is a type of cleaner) and 'char' is present in the answer.
'player' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is present in the answer.
'said' could be 't' (I've seen this in other clues) and 't' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for character that I've seen before include "Letter; personality" , "Imaginary person in a work of fiction" , "constitution" , "Quality" , "eccentric individual" .)