As of Wednesday, Eberechi Eze is now expected to join Arsenal after the Gunners came back in for him in the 11th hour, despite Crystal Palace’s no. 10 agreeing a move in principle to join north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur within the last 24 hours.
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Eze has been in the headlines all summer, with Spurs, then Arsenal, and now Spurs again (and now Arsenal again again) reportedly in negotiations with the player and/or club over a deal. There were various reports on Tuesday that Spurs had agreed a transfer fee with Palace, that personal terms were already agreed and the deal wasn’t far from done.
Then came word on Wednesday that Kai Havertz is going to be out for a while with a knee injury, thus Arsenal were diving back into the market for an attacker who could play a number of different roles for them, as Havertz has done under Mikel Arteta. Arsenal are interested in Eze, and Eze is too. According to David Ornstein, Eze prefers to go to Arsenal as he supported the club as a boy and played for the academy until he was 13. Fabrizio Romano reports that Palace have accepted an $80-million offer from Arsenal.
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Spurs had already missed out on Morgan Gibbs-White ($80 million) before James Maddison tore his ACL in preseason and now they’ve missed out on Eze, so Daniel Levy and Co., have little choice but to move on to their next target and cross their fingers once again.
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Eze to Spurs a deal that had to be done — August 19
UPDATE — Whatever the reason they will give, Spurs missed out on a potentially game-changing signing because they (to some degree) dragged their feet and left the door open. Everything said below about Spurs, goes exactly the same for Eze at Arsenal, with the added bonus that they are already well established as Set Piece FC and Eze’s brilliance should only add to that.
There simply are not that many footballers in the world who would make Tottenham Hotspur better, let alone immediately, and Eze is one that will. The club (and the chairman) are under incredible pressure to win now — not down the road, eventually, “when the long-term project we’re building is finished” — right now. Spurs are in the Champions League this year, and then what? Qualifying for next season’s Champions League is dependent upon their performance in the Premier League this season. Signing a proven PL star like Eze makes Spurs better right now, whatever the cost.
One area where Eze will immediately improve Spurs is on set pieces. With James Maddison out for the season, Thomas Frank was going to have to scheme and trick his way to being one of the best set-piece sides in the Premier League. Now he has one of the league’s top free-kick takers to tee up a squad full of large lads. Spurs could also do with adding a long-range shooting threat to the side, with Harry Kane and Heung-min Son, both of whom scored a fair few goals from way out, no longer around. Eze is a fantastic all-around attacker, but Spurs specifically need a set-piece and long-range specialist, and he just so happens to be one of the best at both.
