Tottenham will 100 percent sign a midifelder this summer if they even remotely know what's good for them, because even the supremely stingy Daniel Levy knows he can't afford to go into the Champions League - one season after finishing 17th in the Premier League - with a barren midfield behind No. 10 James Maddison.
Even though defensive midfielders and deep-lying playmakers should be the name of the game for Spurs in the summer mercato, especially if they part ways with Yves Bissouma before the final year of his contract, Tottenham are currently looking after more playmakers.
One of the most frequently mentioned options is Premier League star Eberechi Eze, fresh off another fine season with Crystal Palace in which he was the key catalyst to the London-based club winning an unlikely FA Cup over Manchester City.
Eze had a more difficult time this season without newly minted Bayern Munich superstar Michael Olise by his side, but the England international still put up some excellent numbers for the Eagles. He scored 8 goals with 8 assists in the Premier League averaging 1.7 key passes and 2.0 dribbles completed per game.
Eberechi Eze won't come cheap for Tottenham
Entering the prime of his career at 26, Eze is a multi-faceted attacking weapon who can progress play, playmake, take defenders on, and score goals from inside the box or range. He is useful defensively, too, so he has all the traits that would make him an even better fit for Ange Postecoglou's system than Maddison, likely subbing Maddison to the bench if he were signed by Tottenham.
Eze wouldn't be cheap either. He's proven, English, well-rounded, and very important to Palace, who will now be headed to the Europa League. Eze has a release clause of around 68 million pounds, and Palace can demand exactly that fee from any club interested in him, including Tottenham.
Signing Eze at the fee is rich, but Eze wouldn't necessarily be a bad purchase because of that fee. He's a good footballer. The issue, beyond the lack of resale value at 26, is where Tottenham would play him, because the biggest mistake Spurs could make with signing Eze has less to do with finances and more to do with football (and a little bit about money).
Daniel Levy is stingy. Everyone knows it. Anyone accustomed to following Tottenham at least somewhat knows that Levy is going to take the path of least financial resistance, and if he were to take a 60-70 million pound plunge on an attacking midfielder, then the worry next becomes that he'll find some other way to cut corners in the strength of the squad to pinch a penny to mitigate the big investment.
That better not be the case with Eze, because Tottenham can't afford to sign Eze as their only major midfield reenforcement for the 2025/26 season. Spurs can't sign Eze, spend a whole bunch of money on him, and then shoehorn him in as a No. 8 behind Maddison, thinking that they've solved their midfield problem by effectively replacing Bissouma for Eze with a group of Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Eze rotating behind Maddison (or Eze himself).
If Tottenham sign Eze, then they still have to sign a high-quality, deep-lying midfielder. Postecoglou is looking more and more likely to stay on as Spurs manager in 2025/26, and if he does, Spurs have to play around his biggest tactical weakness which is that vast gap between the midfield and defense.
Eze isn't the solution there, and while he has the athleticism and ball-winning and progression to play as an 8 in the right matchup, he's definitely not a 6 or a pure 8 - or the kind of 6 or 8 Tottenham need to actually compete with the big boys in the Premier League again.