Arsenal expect to sign Eberechi Eze for £60million having hijacked Tottenham Hotspur’s all-but sealed deal for the England midfielder after learning that Kai Havertz faces a spell on the sidelines.
Tottenham had agreed personal terms and the same transfer fee as Arsenal to sign the Crystal Palace player. However, the 27-year-old indicated that he wanted to move to Arsenal after the club made an approach for him on Wednesday afternoon. Arsenal have met his personal terms.
Spurs had been trying to finalise the deal since the weekend but the transfer was held up because Palace wanted him to play against Norwegian side Fredrikstad in the Conference League play-off, first leg, on Thursday. Palace have been trying to sign reinforcements to enable them to sell Eze.
Arsenal’s late move to sign Eze indicates that Havertz may be out for a lengthy period after he suffered a knee issue in the 1-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday. Arsenal have not revealed the severity of the injury and are waiting for it to settle before assessing it properly.
Havertz struggled with injury through much of last season
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Arsenal had cooled their initial interest in Eze over the past fortnight, which opened the door for Tottenham to resurrect a move for him last week. Thomas Frank had listed Eze as one of two attacking midfielders required after James Maddison suffered a serious knee injury that will rule him out for most of the season, Son Heung-min left to join Los Angeles FC and a proposed deal to sign Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest collapsed.
Tottenham were interested in Savinho but did not want to pay Manchester City’s £67million valuation. Spurs have been interested in Morgan Rogers, of Aston Villa, and Yoane Wissa, who has been expected to leave Brentford for Newcastle United.
Arsenal will be worried about the absence of Havertz given the lengthy injuries that dogged him last season. Havertz, 26, had a muscular injury that sidelined him from the 3-2 defeat by Villarreal two weeks ago in the Emirates Cup, although he returned as a substitute and scored against Athletic Bilbao three days later. He came on for the final 30 minutes at Old Trafford, replacing the new signing Viktor Gyokeres, who is the club’s only fit, frontline striker, with Gabriel Jesus also injured. Havertz, who has scored 29 goals in 88 games since joining Arsenal from Chelsea in 2023, was the club’s centre forward for most of last season.
Havertz’s injury leaves Gyokeres as Arsenal’s only fit striker, with Jesus also out
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Arsenal have used Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino as makeshift forwards. But even before Havertz’s injury, Arsenal had been looking for an attacker — namely a left winger if Trossard left this summer. However, Trossard, 30, has signed an improved deal at Arsenal, although it is still due to expire in 2027, and he has attracted interest from clubs in the Premier League and abroad.
Havertz was not part of an open training session at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, joining Ben White and Christian Norgaard on the sidelines. White started at right back at Old Trafford and was replaced by Jurriën Timber with 19 minutes left. The nature of White’s issue is not known, although the right back was training on an individual programme on Wednesday. Norgaard, the midfielder signed from Brentford this summer, was absent at Old Trafford.
Arsenal have spent nearly £200million on six players this summer and want to offload a number of players. They include Fábio Vieira, who has interest from Stuttgart among other clubs, Reiss Nelson, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior, and Albert Sambi Lokonga.
Eze has two years remaining on his contract with Palace. They signed him from Queens Park Rangers in 2020 for a fee worth up to £19.5 million. QPR are believed to be due 15 per cent of any profit that Palace make on the sale.