Arsenal has beaten arch-rivals Tottenham in the race to sign Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace, reports say. Arsenal need Eze after Kai Havertz’s injury.
Tottenham were set to sign Eberechi Eze, but the tables have been turned by their London rivals Arsenal, as the club has now reached an agreement with Crystal Palace to sign the England winger for £67.5 million. The 27-year-old Eze had been linked with Arsenal earlier as well, but after the Gunners cooled down their interest following the signing of Noni Madueke from Chelsea this summer, Spurs were in pole position to sign Eze.
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As per reports, Spurs also agreed a deal around £60 million this week with Palace for Eze, but Arsenal made a late move on Wednesday for the attacking midfielder after Kai Havertz sustained a knee injury in their opening match of the new Premier League season against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Havertz forces Arsenal to sign Eberechi Eze
Havertz is expected to spend some considerable time on the sidelines, which forced Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to look at new options. As a result, Arsenal’s sporting director, Andrea Berta, and vice-chairman, Tim Lewis, contacted Palace on Wednesday and successfully cracked a deal for Eze.
The agreement has been made directly with Palace chairman Steve Parish. Arsenal will pay £60 million at the start and the rest £7.5 million in bonuses. Eze had joined Palace from QPR in 2020 for £19.5 million. They will also get 15% of the profit Crystal Palace makes by selling Eberechi Eze.
As per The Guardian, Eberechi Eze prefers to join Arsenal. He is a former Arsenal youth player and left the club at the age of 15.
Eberechi Eze is still expected to play for Palace in their first leg of the Europa Conference League play-off against Fredrikstad FK of Norway.
He also started the opening Premier League game against Chelsea, and scored from a free-kick before it was disallowed.
“I’m still disappointed that this goal was disallowed and he will show a great performance tomorrow,” Palace manager Oliver Glasner said while praising Eze’s professionalism after the Chelsea match that ended in a 0-0 draw.
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