Arsenal swooped in ahead of Tottenham to beat them to the signing of Eberechi Eze on Wednesday night, but a move billed as a hijacking had actually been made long before Spurs struck a deal for the playmaker.
The Athletic’s David Ornstein broke the bombshell news that the Gunners had ‘made their move’ to beat Spurs to Eze on Wednesday evening, also revealing that Eze ‘wants to join’ them over their bitter rivals, with Fabrizio Romano dropped his ‘here we go’ soon after.
He wrote on X: ‘Eberechi Eze to Arsenal, here we go! Verbal agreement in place between all parties. Crystal Palace to receive package in excess of £60m as Eze preferred #AFC over Spurs. Arsenal win race over Tottenham, been in advanced talks for days but never sealed.’
It was reported as the latest of late hijacks, and it does appear as though the Gunners wouldn’t have made their move without Kai Havertz’s knee injury, but The Independent claim ‘Arsenal had actually struck the principles of an agreement with Palace as early as the morning of Sunday 10 August’.
They ‘managed to keep it extraordinarily quiet’ in the time between that broad agreement and that push for Eze on Wednesday and ‘didn’t look like they would follow through on that agreement’.
The word was that they preferred a left winger and wanted to sell before another purchase as ‘mixed messages’ were broadcast, to the point where Eze had ‘accepted Arsenal wasn’t going to happen’, with the England international pushing Palace chairman Steve Parish to get the deal done with Tottenham on Monday.
He was is said to have been ‘genuinely excited’ about joining Spurs, though it ‘wasn’t the one he really wanted – his dream was a move to Arsenal’.
On Spurs’ struggles to complete the deal for Eze, the report states:
‘One description over the last few days was that “the deal is both almost done and constantly at the point of collapse”. There is now a belief, especially within Spurs, that Palace were stalling. They were waiting for Arsenal to come back, since competition would mean getting a better price.’
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It’s further claimed that the ‘closer relationship’ Parish has with Arsenal’s Tim Lewis compared to Daniel Levy may have played its part, while Palace’s greater interest in Gunners cast-offs is another factor mentioned in them beating Spurs to the punch on Wednesday.
The report adds:
‘Arsenal finally acted on that deal. That shift will be linked to Kai Havertz’s injury but there is actually hope the German’s absence won’t be that long, maybe less than three months. The Havertz development just accelerated everything. Arsenal wanted to make sure they didn’t miss out.
‘Parish and Arsenal executive vice-chairman Tim Lewis have a closer relationship than Parish and Levy, even if they often bicker. They WhatsApp a lot about regulations and other in-game issues. That helped by Wednesday, especially given that Sunday 10 August agreement.
‘Arsenal also have more players they can offer who Palace need. It is possible a deal is next done for Jakub Kiwior, given how Oliver Glasner’s side need a centre-half on that side.’