Tottenham are turning their attention to Crystal Palace midfielder Eberechi Eze as Thomas Frank looks to make a statement signing this summer.
Eze, who is believed to have a £68m release clause, guided Crystal Palace to the first piece of major silverware in the club’s history last season, scoring in the FA Cup final as Oliver Glasner’s side upset Manchester City at Wembley in May.
Eze's release clause has attracted a number of potential suitors, including long-term admirers Tottenham, to the 26-year-old's availability, and the lure of Champions League football at Spurs could be enough to convince Eze to join, with Palace still unsure whether they'll be granted access to the Europa League following their FA Cup win.
Tottenham looked at Eze last summer but never submitted a firm bid according to Palace chairman Steve Parish. They now, however, look set to return for the England international, with Frank keen to make a statement of intent after arriving from Brentford.
Spurs are in the market for a winger this summer, with Bournemouth's Antoine Semenyo and Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo on their list of attacking options.
The Europa League winners have, however, been touted a fee in the region of £70m for Semenyo, with Bournemouth keen not to lose any more key players, while Mbeumo favours a move to Manchester United, who submitted a second bid of around £60m for the Brentford forward on Monday night.
It makes Eze's release clause all the more enticing for Spurs as they look towards life without talismanic forward Heung Min-Son, who has one year left on his current deal.
Spurs looking for attacking reinforcements
With Europa League-winning winger Brennan Johnson Tottenham's top scorer in the Premier League last season with 11 goals, Frank will be keen to address a misfiring frontline.
This will mean relying on striker Dominic Solanke to find fitness after an injury-hit first season at the club. But it will also mean injecting some creativity into a team that looked devoid of ideas for much of last term.
Frank was the beneficiary of Mikkel Damsgaard's renaissance last season, with the Danish midfielder producing 10 assists for a Brentford team that scored more goals than Tottenham despite operating at different ends of the financial spectrum, and he'll see Eze as the sort of versatile threat out wide and centrally that could elevate Tottenham's attack.
Tottenham already have options at left wing. But with Son's future uncertain, Richarlison struggling for fitness, and Wilson Odobert, Mathys Tel - who signed permanently from Bayern Munich last week - and Mikey Moore all between 17 and 20 years old, there's room for Eze, who mainly plays as a number 10, to come in and make an impact.
Priorities may lie elsewhere, with Johnson the only senior option on the right wing. But Tottenham are long-term admirers of Eze and will view his release clause as an opportunity to sign one of the Premier League's most exciting players for a fraction of his market value.
Eze centrepiece of history-making Palace side
Despite a slow start to the season, scoring just twice in the league in the first half of the campaign, Eze, like Palace, came to the fore in 2025, with the midfielder putting up 14 goals and 11 assists in all competitions for the Eagles by the end of the season.
Eze's performances en route to a historic FA Cup win will go down in Palace folklore, with the former QPR man scoring in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final as they lifted the FA Cup against all odds.
Five goals in his final five league games, including a brace against Tottenham, helped Palace secure a 12th-placed finish, and it was that momentum that he carried with him into the showpiece Wembley final, finishing from Daniel Munoz's low cross to break the deadlock against the run of play.
Eze's quality has never been in question, and with his Palace legacy now established having made history at Wembley, he may feel the time is right for a new challenge.
