Tottenham Hotspur are still in the market for new attacking options, and chairman Daniel Levy is under mounting pressure to deliver.
For the second time in this window alone, Spurs suffered major public humiliation this week by missing out on another star number 10, despite being on the verge of completing a deal.
Earlier in the summer, Morgan Gibbs-White was practically seen as a new Tottenham player when news broke of his pending July medical, only for Nottingham Forest to block the £60 million transfer in never-before-seen fashion.
Evangelos Marinakis not only threatened legal action, with Spurs alleged to have obtained information about Gibbs-White's 'confidential' release clause illegally, but also managed to stall the deal long enough to convince the 25-year-old to sign a new contract instead.
In all fairness, this kind of thing in football almost never happens, and scarcely anyone could've predicted it.
However, in Eze's case, the matter was much more simple - Tottenham were hijacked by their arch north London rivals.
Despite agreeing both personal terms and the finances of a deal with Palace, talks were held long enough for Arsenal to swoop in at the last second and convince their boyhood supporter to join Mikel Arteta's side instead - with Kai Havertz's injury pushing them into immediate action.
"Understand Spurs agreed to Palace's terms today and had agreed terms with Eze. The player was ready to come to Tottenham. Palace hadn't finalised the deal as they wanted him available for tomorrow night's European game," said Alasdair Gold on X.
"Then Arsenal came in late this afternoon - also agreeing to Palace's terms - and the player chose Arsenal due to his connection to them."
It is a hammer blow for manager Thomas Frank, amid reports the Dane believes that Tottenham need two number 10s after James Maddison's ACL rupture.
Last month, Spurs were planning to head into 2025/2026 with a fully fit Maddison and Gibbs-White, but Frank has neither at his disposal.
Eze is now also off the table, meaning Levy must make a serious late transfer statement if he is indeed serious about Tottenham eventually challenging for the Champions League and Premier League title.
Tottenham get green-light to hijack Chelsea deal for Alejandro Garnacho
While his natural position isn't in the number 10 role, Man United forward Alejandro Garnacho can play there when required.
Spurs are also after a wide player to replace club legend Son Heung-min, and the Argentine would tick both boxes as a versatile attacking gem who bagged a brilliant 11 goals and 10 assists in all competitions last term.
Garnacho's public fallout with Ruben Amorim has landed him on the for-sale list, with Chelsea reliably believed to be in advancing talks for the 21-year-old after also agreeing personal terms.
According to GiveMeSport, the west Londoners are haggling over price, and to avoid being forced to sanction a cut-price sale with no other suitors bidding, United have given the "green light" for Tottenham to move for Garnacho.
The Red Devils want Spurs to come in for him so they can drive Garnacho's price up and spark a bidding war, and Frank's side have already had some contact through intermediaries to gauge the conditions of a deal this window.