Arsenal have made a dramatic move to hijack Eberechi Eze‘s transfer to Tottenham after Kai Havertz suffered a knee injury.
Eze’s club Crystal Palace have been in negotiations with Spurs for the past ten days as they tried to strike accord over a deal worth £55m plus add ons.
However, once Havertz’s injury became apparent Arsenal’s need to find another attacking option brought Eze into focus and they have moved to offer £60m.
The Gunners had earmarked signing the 27-year old England international earlier in the window and knew they were his preference but, following their £63million outlay on Viktor Gyokeres, they had wanted to concentrate on outgoings before adding another left-sided attacker.
Manager Mikel Arteta is a huge fan of Havertz and was hoping the German international would have a big impact alongside Gyokeres following his return from the hamstring injury he suffered last season.
Havertz, who came on as a substitute in Arsenal’s win at Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, did not take part in an open training session at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday morning. The 26-year-old is understood to have picked up the injury during his appearance against United and Arsenal are concerned that he could be absent for an extended period.
Eberechi Eze could join Arsenal instead of Spurs this summer after the Gunners swooped for the star
Eze has told Arsenal that he wants to join them over Spurs in a huge boost for Mikel Arteta
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Sporting director Andrea Berta and Arteta met Eze in July to make their pitch and he was sold on the idea of moving to the Gunners but their proposed offer failed to materialise.
Eze had a release clause of £60m plus a further £8m in bonuses which lapsed last week.
Tottenham, aware of a window of opportunity, moved for Eze after James Maddison was ruled out for the majority of the season.
Negotiations had been progressing but stalled as Palace scrambled to find a suitable replacement.
They tried for Christos Tzolis at Bruges, but he was deemed too expensive after only recently signing a new long term contract and had returned to Leicester City midfielder El Bilal Khannous with talks escalating around a £30m offer.
Tottenham are even understood to have proposed forward Richarlison to Palace as part of the deal to help accelerate negotiations.
Now, though, Arsenal have capitalised on the impasse and made an offer to steal Eze away from under the noses of their fierce rivals.
With Eze expected to say yes to Arsenal, Tottenham’s inability to close the deal earlier will no doubt prompt criticism from fans once again.
Eze started the Community Shield win over Liverpool and the 0-0 draw with Chelsea despite uncertainty over his Palace future
They remain interested in Manchester City winger Savinho and Brentford’s Yoane Wissa but both their clubs are reluctant to sell.
There is dismay at Tottenham at how things have unfolded, but a belief that there is little more that they could have done.
Daily Mail Sport understands that they agreed to Palace’s demands earlier today and also agreed terms with Eze. At that stage, the player was keen to finalise the move. However, Palace are understood to have insisted Eze would remain available for their Conference League match on Thursday night. Arsenal entered the race late this afternoon, agreed to Palace’s terms and Eze – a boyhood fan of the club – decided to head to Spurs’ rivals.
Eze has been training with his Palace teammates ahead of their Conference League play off against Fredrikstad on Thursday.
Though Tottenham have enjoyed some success this summer with the signings of Mohammed Kudus and Joao Palhinha, and agreeing a new contract with captain Cristian Romero, the club missed out on Morgan Gibbs-White and losing Eze to Arsenal will undoubtedly anger supporters.
Arsenal had been expected to explore the loan or market or for cheap options to find cover for Havertz, but the club instead revisited their interest in Eze as Tottenham failed to close the deal.
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