As Eberechi Eze closes in on finalising his move to Arsenal, there’s more than a hint of bitterness from the other side of north London.
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 17: Eberechi Eze of Crystal Palace celebrates scoring his sides goal which is later disallowed following a VAR review during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on August 17, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
By all reports, Eberechi Eze is on the verge of confirming his transfer to Arsenal. Fabrizio Romano confirmed this morning that all documents have been signed by all parties, with the player having undergone a medical on Friday.
Arsenal Fixtures News report on social media that Gunners legend Ian Wright was filming with Eze late on Friday night, with Wright also having swapped Crystal Palace for Arsenal back in the 90s.
Yet the news hasn’t gone over so well at Tottenham Hotspur, with the other north London club seeing their own move for Eze hijacked at the last moment.
LONDON, ENGLAND: Eberechi Eze of Crystal Palace celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Crystal Palace FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 11, 2025. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Phil McNulty reported for the BBC earlier this week that Spurs thought they had the Eze deal all wrapped up, and Arsenal’s hijack delivered a devastating psychological blow to their local rivals.
As if to rub salt in the wounds, Spurs had reached an agreement with Palace that Eze could play for the club one last time in their Europa Conference League qualifier on Thursday.
But when Arsenal agreed a deal, Eze sat out of the match instead.
LONDON, ENGLAND: Eberechi Eze of Crystal Palace during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers FC at Selhurst Park on May 20, 2025. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images
Speaking ahead of Spurs’ match against Manchester City this weekend, manager Thomas Frank seemed to imply they didn’t want Eze anyway.
“To make it very, very clear, I don’t want any players that don’t want to come to the club,” Frank said. “Who don’t want to wear this fantastic badge. We don’t want them here.
“That’s very clear and I’m also pretty sure that the fans will feel the same. If they [the signings] don’t want to put the fantastic shirt over their head, play for the badge, play for the club, really enjoy it, no problem. We don’t want them.”
Yet Matt Law had reported for The Telegraph earlier in the week that Spurs felt they had done “everything possible” to sign Eze, in spite of consistent reports all summer that he’d prefer Arsenal.
It seems Frank and co. only came to the conclusion that they didn’t want the player after all hope of signing him was gone.
The Eberechi Eze mural (Photo via footballontnt on Twitter)
Photo via footballontnt on Twitter
The Spurs fans, for their part, aren’t doing much to hide their bitterness at the missed transfer. After an Arsenal fan painted a mural of Eze in the tunnel outside the Emirates on Wednesday night (shown above), Spurs supporters seemingly vandalised it on Friday.
The imminent official announcement is sure to be sickening to the fanbase of a club that truly believed they were the favourites as recently as Wednesday morning.
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