Arsenal agree deal to sign Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace after hijacking Tottenham Hotspur’s move; Spurs felt they had an agreement in place with the club and the player on Wednesday before their north London rivals reignited their interest and swooped in. Arsenal have agreed a £67.5m deal to sign Eberechi Eze after hijacking Tottenham Hotspur’s move for the Crystal Palace forward.
The Gunners will pay a guaranteed £60m plus £7.5m in add-ons for the forward, who completed his Arsenal medical on Saturday. Eze has agreed terms on a long-term contract with a formal announcement expected soon. he 27-year-old’s release clause, worth £60m plus £8m in add-ons, expired before the Premier League season started.
Eze was absent from the Eagles squad as they beat Fredrikstad, in the first leg of their Conference League play-off at Selhurst Park on Thursday but was spotted at the ground after the game by Sky cameras. Spurs felt they had an agreement in place with Palace and Eze on Wednesday before their north London rivals reignited their interest and swooped in following an injury to Kai Havertz.
Eze was one of a number of players Arsenal looked into in the first few weeks of the window, where, significantly, a lot of the work was carried out in June when they explored the conditions of a deal. Since then, their focus has been on other positions and player departures. Spurs were considering offering Richarlison in a deal for Eze. That would have freed up striker space for them to try and signYoane Wissa, who played under Thomas Frank at Brentford. Wissa still wants to join Newcastle, who had a second bid rejected on Wednesday.
Eze, who started in Palace’s draw at Chelsea on Sunday, has two years left on his contract at Selhurst Park. Arsenal have a long-standing interest in Eze, who was previously on the books of their academy and has said he was a supporter of the club growing up.
They explored a potential deal earlier in the window, but chose not to pursue a deal at that stage as they prioritised strengthening other areas of the squad and agreeing new contracts with existing players.
Spurs then came in for Eze after Morgan Gibbs-White chose to sign a new contract at Nottingham Forest and they lost James Maddison to an ACL injury.
Talks were held between Tottenham and Palace, and Spurs felt they had an agreement in place on Wednesday with club and the player.
However, Arsenal then came in to hijack the deal in a major twist on Wednesday evening.
