Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly agreed a transfer fee, as well as personal terms, to sign Crystal Palace’s star midfielder Eberechi Eze.
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Eze has been in the headlines all summer, with Spurs, then Arsenal, and now Spurs again reportedly in negotiations with the player and/or club over a deal. In the end, he appears headed to Tottenham Hotspur for an initial fee in the neighborhood of $75 million plus potential add-ons. Considering Spurs were quite transparently set to pay $80 million for Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White earlier this summer, it was a no-brainer that new manager Thomas Frank needed a new no. 10 after James Maddison tore his ACL during preseason.
Eze to Spurs a deal that had to be done
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There simply are not that many footballers in the world who would make Tottenham Hotspur better, let alone immediately, and Eze is one that will. The club (and the chairman) are under incredible pressure to win now — not down the road, eventually, “when the long-term project we’re building is finished” — right now. Spurs are in the Champions League this year, and then what? Qualifying for next season’s Champions League is dependent upon their performance in the Premier League this season. Signing a proven PL star like Eze makes Spurs better right now, whatever it costs.
One area where Eze will immediately improve Spurs is on set pieces. With James Maddison out for the season, Thomas Frank was going to have to scheme and trick his way to being one of the best set-piece sides in the Premier League. Now he has one of the league’s top free-kick takers to tee up a squad full of large lads. Spurs could also do with adding a long-range shooting threat to the side, with Harry Kane and Heung-min Son, both of whom scored a fair few goals from way out, no longer around. Eze is a fantastic all-around attacker, but Spurs specifically need a set-piece and long-range specialist, and he just so happens to be one of the best at both.
It’s nice to finally see Tottenham Hotspur _acting_ like a big club after years of having to punch above their weight and overachieve to become one.