Eberechi Eze will undergo a medical with Arsenal on Friday after a deal worth £67.5million was agreed with Crystal Palace.
The Gunners sensationally swooped in and hijacked Tottenham’s move for the Crystal Palace star on Wednesday, mere hours after Spurs had agreed a deal with both club and player.
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Personal terms between Arsenal and Eze, who began his career with the Gunners, are expected to be a formality, and the transfer is now poised to be wrapped up in the coming days.
The fee is understood to be £60m, plus £7.5m in add-ons, in line with his release clause which expired last Friday.
Tottenham’s agreement in principle with Palace is believed to have been of a similar figure, but with a slightly lower up-front fee and add-ons which would be harder to trigger.
Standard Sport understands there is a provisional plan for Eze to finalise his move to Arsenal on Friday, the day after playing in Palace’s first-ever European match.
Eze would need to be registered by 12pm BST on Friday to be eligible to make his Arsenal debut against Leeds on Saturday.
The Eagles begin their Conference League campaign tonight by hosting Norwegian outfit Fredrikstad at Selhurst Park, and manager Oliver Glasner insisted on Wednesday that Eze will play. Eze will get a chance to say his goodbyes to the club and its supporters at the game.
Eze, who has 12 caps for England, was all set to join Spurs but favoured a move to Arsenal when he heard they had reignited their interest. He was on their books as a youngster and has previously said he grew up an Arsenal fan. Earlier in the window, Arsenal were in regular contact with his representatives.
Standard Sport learnt three weeks ago that Arsenal had cooled their interest in Eze and felt outgoings would be needed in order for an attacking spot in the squad to become available. They returned to Eze on Wednesday, though, partly as a response to Kai Havertz’s injury.
Missing out on Eze will serve as a source of deep frustration and embarrassment for Tottenham after chairman Daniel Levy spent a number of days locked in negotiations with Palace counterpart Steve Parish on a deal that was described as a ‘one-horse race’.
Spurs continue to monitor the market for attacking reinforcements, particularly in Eze’s preferred No10 position.
Morgan Gibbs-White’s move broke down after Nottingham Forest filed an official complaint with the Premier League about the nature of Spurs’ approach, which they considered illegal.
Captain Heung-min Son has since moved to LAFC, and James Maddison has been ruled out for most of the season with a serious ACL knee injury.
