Arsenal close to Eze deal as Spurs move on to other targets

Arsenal are close to agreeing a deal with Crystal Palace to sign Eberechi Eze.

Tottenham Hotspur believe Eze wants to join Arsenal and have moved on to other targets. Spurs felt they had an agreement in place with Palace and Eze on Wednesday.

Arsenal are pushing for a deal after they reignited their interest in Eze on Wednesday. As far as Spurs are concerned, they expect him to move to the Emirates.

Eze’s release clause, worth £60m plus £8m in add-ons, expired before the Premier League season started. The 27-year-old, who started in Palace’s draw at Chelsea on Sunday, has two years left on his contract at Selhurst Park.

Earlier on Wednesday, Spurs were considering offering Richarlison in a deal for Crystal Palace forward Eze.

That would, in turn, have freed up striker space to try and sign Yoane Wissa, who played under Thomas Frank at Brentford.

Wissa still want to join Newcastle, who had a second bid rejected on Wednesday.

How battle for Eze unfolded

Arsenal have a long-standing interest in Eze, who was previously on the books of their academy and has said he was a supporter of the club growing up.

They explored a potential deal earlier in the window, but chose not to pursue a deal at that stage as they prioritised strengthening other areas of the squad and agreeing new contracts with existing players.

Spurs then came in for Eze after Morgan Gibbs-White chose to sign a new contract at Nottingham Forest and they lost James Maddison to an ACL injury.

Talks were held between Tottenham and Palace and Spurs felt they had an agreement in place on Wednesday with club and player.

However, Arsenal then came in to hijack the deal in a major twist on Wednesday evening.

What have Palace said about Eze?

Earlier on Wednesday, Oliver Glasner said that both Eze and Liverpool transfer target Marc Guehi will start in Thursday’s Conference League play-off against Fredrikstad despite continued speculation.

“Many of you were surprised Marc (Guehi) and Ebs (Eze) started and played almost the whole game [at Chelsea],” Glasner told the media at his pre-match press conference. “Most of you will be surprised that they will start again [on Thursday] because of all the rumours.

“But they are committed to the team, they have a contract here. They played a crucial part that we could be successful and they will play a crucial part as long as they are here.

“They are good, they are committed to the team. When one of the players will leave, they want to leave as the guys who always gave 100 per cent for Crystal Palace. This is what they did since they signed many years ago and this is what we expect from them until the end of their contract, whenever this is.”