Arsenal have beaten Tottenham Hotspur in the race to sign Eberechi Eze this summer.
The 27-year-old has been the talk of the town over the last few days, and his transfer saga is finally about to come to an end.
Tottenham were really close to signing the Crystal Palace star, but Arsenal swiftly hijacked the Eze deal and are all set to complete it now.
Ahead of his scheduled medical on Friday, some new information has come to light about Eze, and Arsenal fans will absolutely love it.
Eberechi Eze was once a part of Arsenal’s youth setup.
The Englishman has publicly declared his love for the Gunners in the past, and he was desperate to make it at Hale End when he was a kid.
However, Eze was left in tears when Arsenal released him, but his admiration for the club has not gone away.
Arsenal were linked with Eze at the start of the window, but things became quiet on that front in recent weeks.
That’s when Tottenham stepped up and tried to sign him, but David Ornstein has now revealed that Eze kept asking people around him and his teammates if they knew anything about Arsenal’s interest in him.
The journalist said on The Athletic FC podcast: “You’ve got to remember in all of this as well that Eze’s preference was always, if possible, to join Arsenal.
“He was in their academy at an early age. He is said to be a fan of the club, and from what I hear in multiple conversations, he was asking people over a long period of time: ‘Are Arsenal there? Does Mikel Arteta want me?’
“He was sort of pushing teammates and things like that to try and explore this situation.
“So, I think there would have been a bit of residual intrigue on his part about whether this would ever come about.
“However, I’ve got to make clear that Tottenham got a deal done with Crystal Palace and with the player. It was ready to rumble, and it was very much in its final stages before Arsenal came and did this.”
Arsenal hijacking Tottenham’s move to sign Eze came as a surprise to the footballing world, but people close to the player must have known that this could happen.
Yes, Spurs seemed to be in the driving seat, and the player had given the green light to join them, but Arsenal were the club in his heart.
Back in July, TBR Football exclusively revealed that Eze had been telling his friends that he was joining Arsenal this summer.
Now, his wish is about to come true, and it will be very interesting to see how Spurs fans will react when Eze plays for Arsenal against Tottenham in the two North London Derbies this season.
