Eberechi Eze was expected to join Tottenham but north London rivals Arsenal stepped in to land the midfielder from Crystal Palace, with the £67.5million move now confirmed
Eberechi Eze admitted it was always a dream to play for Arsenal after snubbing a move to Tottenham in favour of a £67.5million switch to the Emirates Stadium. The former Crystal Palace midfielder was presented to the Emirates crowd in the minutes before Arsenal’s 5-0 demolition job of Leeds which fired the Gunners to an early sight of the Premier League summit.
Tottenham had been set to capture Eze after they reached an agreement with Crystal Palace on Wednesday, until Mikel Arteta’s side swooped in to hijack the transfer. A departure this summer was always a possibility given the former Arsenal trainee had entered the final two years of his deal at Selhurst Park and Tottenham moved first earlier this month.
Eze played at the Emirates four times during his spell with Palace and he admitted it’s always been a dream to play in the Gunners shirt. “I thought about coming back from the moment I understood other clubs and what it meant to become a pro,” he revealed 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.”
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The Gunners usurped neighbours Tottenham to land Eze after Kai Havertz last weekend hurt a knee that could keep him sidelined for three months. Before that blow Arsenal, who had already spent more than £200m in the transfer window, had cooled their interest in Eze.
That meant Spurs were confident of sealing a deal for him earlier this week before Arsenal transfer chief Andrea Berta reignited his team’s interest and pulled the carpet from under the feet of their biggest rivals.
Spurs boss Thomas Frank, who saw his team win at Manchester City on lunchtime Saturday, spoke openly on Friday about only wanting to sign players who are desperate to represent the club. He is keen to add another creative midfielder to his squad because of injuries to James Maddison, who is 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,” Frank said, making a thinly veiled dig 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.”
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