TBR Football can exclusively reveal that Tottenham Hotspur actually had an inkling that something was wrong with the Eberechi Eze deal before the Arsenal news even broke.
The Crystal Palace attacker was expected to move to a bigger club in this window, and Spurs seemed to be in the driving seat to sign him.
TBR revealed that Eze held talks with Thomas Frank and was ready to join Tottenham, but his stance changed once Arsenal came into the picture.
Spurs, unsurprisingly, are disappointed, but they had a feeling this could happen just a few days ago.
Crystal Palace made some ‘unusual’ requests to Tottenham for Eberechi Eze
TBR Football’s chief correspondent, Graeme Bailey, understands that Tottenham are sad to miss out on Eberechi Eze, but Arsenal’s hijack didn’t come as a big shock.
The 27-year-old has been on the radar of both North London clubs in this window, with the Gunners holding talks with his agents at the very start of the summer.
However, Arsenal’s focus was on a new left-winger and player sales, which is why Tottenham found themselves in a great position to land Eze.
Then, Kai Havertz suffered a knee injury at Arsenal, and that forced Andrea Berta to make his move to sign the Eagles star.
Fans of both clubs were taken by surprise when the news broke, but TBR understands that Tottenham knew something was wrong as early as Tuesday because of Palace’s demands.
Bailey told TBR: “I don’t think it necessarily hit the players or the coaches hard, but on Monday and Tuesday, the club really thought it was done with Spurs.”
“On Tuesday, Palace came back with certain criteria – not outlandish, but a bit unusual – and that made Spurs think: ‘Why are you asking for this, what’s going on here?’ They had a feeling something wasn’t quite right.
“I think annoyance is the wrong word – a frustration. But clearly, Eze is Palace’s player to do as they see fit. At the end of the day, it’s not really a frustration with Palace because they were just looking for the best deal.
“Tottenham were willing to do the £68 million deal anyway, so from Palace’s point of view, did they really care which one of these two he joined? I don’t think so. Neither of them are particular rivals. Yes, Spurs are nearer to Palace, but in terms of everything else, they’re not really a rival. Palace were going to get the same fee anyway.
“I don’t think there’s real annoyance there, but clearly from Spurs’ part there is frustration. But speaking to them today, they’re moving on straight away. There’s that pragmatic approach – this is football. They’ve taken advantage of similar situations themselves in the past, so I don’t think they’re massively bitter about it.”
“Clearly, there have been a few instances this summer where they’ve missed out on deals – with Morgan Gibbs-White and now with Eze – and yeah, it’s a frustration.”
Eberechi Eze looking on after winning the Community Shield for Crystal Palace
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
Eberechi Eze always preferred Arsenal over Tottenham
Tottenham really were close to signing Eze.
An agreement in principle was struck between Spurs and Palace, and it really did look like the deal would go through.
However, as TBR revealed, Arsenal were always Eze’s first choice, and the Englishman now feels that he has got the move he always wanted.
Tottenham have now enquired about signing Bilal El Khannouss, while the likes of Savinho, Harvey Elliott and Tyler Dibling remain on their radar.
It remains to be seen who they will end up signing.