Eberechi Eze has revealed it was always a childhood ambition to represent Arsenal after turning down Tottenham in favour of a £67.5million move to the Emirates Stadium.
The former Crystal Palace star was unveiled to the Emirates Stadium faithful moments before Arsenal's commanding 5-0 victory over Leeds which propelled the Gunners towards an early glimpse of the Premier League summit. Spurs appeared poised to secure Eze's signature after striking a deal with Crystal Palace on Wednesday, before Mikel Arteta's outfit intervened to hijack the transfer.
An exit this summer had always remained on the cards given the former Arsenal academy prospect had entered the final two years of his contract at Selhurst Park, with Tottenham making their move earlier this month. Spurs had agreed to Palace's terms after having already agreed to Eze's with the player ready to come to Tottenham.
The deal had dragged on, though, as Palace had not finalised the deal because they wanted the player to be available for Thursday night's historic first European game for the Eagles. After an injury to Kai Havertz, Arsenal moved quickly and tied up a deal for Eze, with the player favouring a move to the Gunners.
Eze featured at the Emirates Stadium on four occasions during his time with Palace and he confessed it had always been an aspiration to don the Gunners jersey, reports the Mirror. "I thought about coming back from the moment I understood other clubs and what it meant to become a pro," he disclosed to Ian Wright.
"I've always thought: 'Arsenal is where it's at, that's what I want to achieve, what I want to get to.' I've been on trial for four years, if I'm being honest. Every time I came to Arsenal, I looked at the seat that I used to sit on when I used to come to games with my brothers, and I've said every single time: 'this is it - it's time, this is an opportunity.' I'm not going to say I knew it was going to happen, but that's the feeling.
"As a player, I have a level of belief in myself. I've been playing how I've been playing, I've been developing this and that, and I had the heart that if it's meant to be, it will happen, and I believe it will. But if it doesn't, I'm at peace because I know I'm giving everything. So for it to happen now and to be in this position, there is a bit more energy inside the tank."
Spurs boss Thomas Frank, fresh from a victory at Manchester City on Saturday lunchtime, was candid on Friday about only wanting to sign players who are eager to wear the club's badge. He is keen to bolster his squad with another creative midfielder due to injuries to James Maddison, likely out for the season, and Dejan Kulusevski.
"There has been a lot of links, there will be a lot of links in the future and just to generalise that, to make it very, very clear, I don't want any players that don't want to come to the club," said Frank, seemingly taking a subtle swipe at Eze.
"Who don't want to come to the club and wear this fantastic badge - we don't want them here. I think that's very clear.
"Pretty sure that the fans will feel the same if they don't want to put the fantastic shirt over their head. Play for the badge, play for the club. Really enjoy it. No problem, then we don't them there. I think that's a key message.
"Of course we need to do everything we can to make sure we are as competitive as possible. Kulusevski, he will come back in this season. I think that's a big thing. It's probably longer term with Maddison unfortunately, but I am also pretty confident that we will sign a player before the end of the window."