Arsenal dramatically secured the £60 million signing of Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace, executing a swift and decisive move that exploited Tottenham’s protracted negotiations to deliver a devastating blow to their North London rivals and land a player who had always dreamed of the move.
By Nij Martin
The North London derby: transfer edition.
In the high-stakes theatre of the transfer window, nothing is more brutal or exhilarating than a last-minute hijack. The news that Eberechi Eze was heading to Arsenal, not Tottenham, sent shockwaves through football. But this was no mere smash-and-grab; it was a meticulously timed operation, weeks in the making, that exposed the contrasting transfer philosophies of North London’s eternal rivals.
Just hours before Arsenal clinched the deal, Tottenham Hotspur finally put in the offer they felt would be acceptable to Crystal Palace. There had been a verbal agreement. Spurs just never got a proper answer.
The public narrative is one of a stunning, overnight ambush. The reality, as revealed by The Independent, is far more calculated. 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, a testament to the club’s increasingly discreet and efficient behind-the-scenes operation.
For nine days, that agreement lay dormant. The word put out was that they wanted to sell before any other purchase, and that they preferred a left winger. Interest in Eze was repeatedly played down. This public posturing created a smokescreen, one that Tottenham willingly walked into.
While Arsenal waited, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy embarked on what sources describe as “days of difficult and painstaking negotiations” with Palace chairman Steve Parish. Talks almost collapsed repeatedly, with constant hold-ups over add-ons and payment structures. “The deal is both almost done and constantly at the point of collapse,” was one description of the agonising process. A growing belief now, especially within Spurs, is that Palace were stalling, waiting for Arsenal to come back and trigger a bidding war.
The human element in this corporate chess game was Eze himself. By last Saturday, a move to his dream club looked so remote that he had accepted it wasn’t going to happen. He even spoke to Parish to try and get his move to Tottenham sorted. “Eze was genuinely excited about joining Tottenham. It just wasn’t the one he really wanted. His dream was a move to Arsenal.”
That dream suddenly flickered into life on Wednesday morning. The catalyst was an injury to Kai Havertz, but the shift had been coming. Arsenal finally acted on that dormant deal. The Havertz development just accelerated everything. Arsenal wanted to make sure they didn’t miss out.
What followed was a masterclass in leveraging relationships and assets. Parish and Arsenal executive vice-chairman Tim Lewis have a closer relationship than Parish and Levy. They WhatsApp a lot about regulations and other in-game issues. That rapport helped smooth the rapid deal. Furthermore, Arsenal also have more players they can offer who Palace need, with defender Jakub Kiwior a potential makeweight in a future transaction.
In the end, Arsenal had to pay more than the initial agreement to ensure it got done. The deal jumped from £50m plus £10m in add-ons to £60m and £7.5m in add-ons – pretty much exactly Eze’s recently lapsed release clause. It was a superior offer to Spurs’, and Parish had played his hand masterfully, extracting the maximum value for his club’s superstar.
For Eze, this is a fairy tale. A boyhood Arsenal fan who was released from the club’s academy at 13, he has now completed a heroic journey back to the Emirates. His connection to the club is no secret; when celebrating Palace’s FA Cup success in May, his Instagram post included a conspicuous image of Arsenal legend Ian Wright. He had previously admitted to “crying for a week” when let go by Arsenal, but now has a golden opportunity to make up for lost time.
For Tottenham, it is a disaster. This, coupled with the collapse of a move for Morgan Gibbs-White, represents a brutal late-window double blow that will see fan protests against chairman Daniel Levy heat up again. There is dismay at Spurs at how things have unfolded, but a belief that there is little more that they could have done.
For Arsenal, it is a monumental statement. This is not just about landing a psychological blow on Spurs; it is a clear signal of a ruthless, winning mentality. After a summer that has already seen the arrivals of Viktor Gyokeres and Martin Zubimendi, Eze is the final, glittering piece of the puzzle. He is a proven match-winner, a scorer of spectacular goals on the biggest stages, and the versatile attacker Mikel Arteta craved.
Arsenal didn’t just hijack a transfer; they executed a strategic masterplan. They identified their man, laid the groundwork in secret, and struck with lightning speed when the moment was right. In the brutal world of modern football, that’s how you win—both on and off the pitch.