Tottenham knew Eze deal ‘wasn’t quite right’ but thought it was ‘done’ before Arsenal hijack
Tottenham reportedly had an inkling that something was wrong in their pursuit of Eberechi Eze, but thought the deal “was done” prior to Arsenal hijacking the move.
Spurs have spent much of the last few weeks pushing to land Crystal Palace star Eze. It has looked for some time as if he’d move onto a bigger club, and the north Londoners thought their agreement was settled.
However, on Wednesday, after an injury to Arsenal man Kai Havertz, the Gunners came back into the mix, hijacking the move and agreeing to sign Eze themselves.
TBRFootball insider Graeme Bailey has revealed that while Tottenham are not stunned by the development, they did get the feeling something was wrong despite the fact they were nearing the deal.
“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,” he said.
“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.
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“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.”
It has been suggested as the deal was progressing, that Palace made it evident they wanted Eze to play in their Europa Conference League game against Fredrikstad on Thursday.
However, with Arsenal having triggered a move for the midfielder, it looks as if he’s going to do that anyway, so seemingly Spurs could have still gotten him.
READ MORE: Tottenham: Real Madrid ‘accept’ Spurs offer for Rodrygo as ‘only’ transfer ‘doubt’ revealed
