By ISAAN KHAN, REPORTER and BEN WILLCOCKS, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR and LUKE POWER, SPORTS REPORTER
Published: 12:00 EDT, 23 August 2025 | Updated: 12:05 EDT, 23 August 2025
Arsenal have signed Eberechi Eze for £67.5million on a four-year contract — and he will wear the No10 shirt.
The ex-Crystal Palace forward will be unveiled at the Emirates today ahead of the Gunners’ 5:30pm kick-off against Leeds United.
It follows a remarkable turnaround which saw rivals Tottenham having agreed terms with the 27-year-old on Wednesday, with the player keen to finalise the move, before Arsenal swooped in.
That was just hours after Havertz missed on open training session in the morning because of a knee injury he picked up against Manchester United on Sunday.
Daily Mail Sport understands that the uncertainty around the length of Havertz’s absence was a contributing factor to Arsenal completing a deal for Eze.
He is the north London club’s seventh signing this summer and takes their spend to around £250m.
Mikel Arteta will be delighted to have added Eze to his attacking ranks
Spurs boss Thomas Frank, meanwhile, will be hugely disappointed
Eze was convinced on joining the Gunners after a meeting with key club figures last month
A mural depicting Eze in an Arsenal shirt had already been painted prior to the announcement
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Eze’s contract has an option for a further year.
Daily Mail Sport understands Spurs had agreed to Palace's transfer demands on Wednesday and also struck terms with Eze who, at that stage, was keen to finalise the move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But Crystal Palace are understood to have insisted that Eze remain available for their Conference League play-off first leg against Norwegian side Fredrikstad on Thursday night, which handed Arsenal an opportunity to swoop in.
But in the end, Eze didn't play. Oliver Glasner expected him to have a send-off but revealed that the winger called in sick on the morning of the game. 'We don’t like to change the starting XI on matchday, especially in this situation when it is the first time of European football for Crystal Palace,' the Austrian admitted pre-match.
Palace went on to win 1-0 at Selhurst Park, with Jean Philippe-Mateta scoring their first ever European goal, and Glasner said afterwards: 'Ebs will not play for us anymore so it does not make sense to talk about him. It's gone.'
He later told his post-match press conference: 'I have to apologise to all of you because I didn’t tell the truth yesterday. I thought he would play... he called me and said he didn’t feel well. You have to ask him (why), maybe in a few days. No (I don’t think he will play for the club again).'
Eze called in sick to pull out of what was meant to be his final Crystal Palace game on Thursday
The spectre of Eberechi Eze hung over proceedings despite the star not being on the pitch
Fans raised banners in support of the departing player
All the same, the Palace faithful, who had turned out hoping to see a final glimpse of their talisman, held up signs thanking him for his service and proclaiming him as a legend.
After stealing Eze from under the nose of their fierce rivals, Arsenal have now officially announced the deal, which is understood to be worth approximately £60m.
As reported by Daily Mail Sport earlier this week, Eze was convinced on joining the Gunners after a meeting with key club figures last month.
The Crystal Palace star was sold on the idea of moving to north London by Gunners sporting director Andrea Berta and manager Arteta, who met with him last month despite an offer failing to materialise at the time.
Tottenham moved for Eze after James Maddison was ruled out for the majority of the season with a serious knee injury.
Talks had been progressing but stalled as Palace scrambled for a suitable replacement, with Spurs even understood to have proposed offering forward Richarlison as part of the deal to help negotiations progress.
Eze's release clause of £60m, plus £8m in bonuses, lapsed last week.
Both north London clubs enjoyed victories in their first matches of the new Premier League season, with Spurs triumphing 3-0 over newly-promoted Burnley and Arsenal edging out a tight 1-0 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford.