Arsenal’s summer signing Eberechi Eze has revealed that he was “willing” to join Tottenham Hotspur only to be swayed by a late bid from the Gunners.
Eze found himself at the epicentre of a transfer saga in the summer just gone. The former Crystal Palace attacking talisman was wanted by a glut of clubs, but the two halves of north London emerged as leading contenders towards the business end of the window.
Spurs appeared to have assumed control of negotiations by mid-August. Following a serious knee injury to James Maddison and the accepted departure of Son Heung-min, Tottenham stepped up their efforts to sign a new creative outlet. Talks were held, personal terms had been accepted and Palace were happy with the £55 million ($73.2 million) transfer fee on the table.
“I was prepared to go to Tottenham,” Eze admitted for the first team during a return to his former secondary school this week, as quoted by The Athletic, “but from the moment Arsenal came, it was always going to be them.”
Eze reportedly had a meeting with Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta and sporting director Andrea Berta several weeks before Tottenham formalised their interest, informing his boyhood club that he was eager to return to the Emirates.
The Gunners had been considering moves for Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White and Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa before Eze took matters into his own hands. On the same day he was supposed to sign for Spurs, the 27-year-old rang Arteta to double check whether a move to Arsenal was still on the table. “That shows you how much he wanted to come,” the Spanish manager would later reflect once a £67.5 million deal for Eze had been struck.
Arteta: Eze Ready to Perform Against Former Club
Eze’s start to life at Arsenal has not been entirely seamless. After thriving in a Crystal Palace side built to sweep forward in transition, the attacking midfielder is yet to replicate his creative output for a team that so routinely comes up against packed rearguards.
Across his seven Premier League appearances for Arsenal this season, Eze has created just two chances from open play, fewer than seven of his teammates. Palace travel to the Emirates on Sunday afternoon with a compact shape that won’t afford their former talisman a great deal of space, but Arteta is confident he can shine on what promises to be a “special” occasion.
“There is something in your tummy,” Arteta said on the topic of facing your former team. “There is history, there are a lot of emotions, there are very close relationships. You might think once you step in there and you go with that mindset, someday, you have even more will to win because you made that decision to be successful and to achieve something else in your career, and I’m sure Ebs is going to be ready for that.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Eberechi Eze Sheds New Light on Arsenal, Tottenham Transfer Saga.