Tottenham stung by Arsenal again after star was offered only to join Gunners

There is precedent for Arsenal pipping north London rivals Tottenham to a transfer target's signature at the 11th hour as they look to pull off a £68million coup for Eberechi Eze

Arsenal’s brutal hijacking of Eberechi Eze’s Tottenham move is not the first time the Gunners have signed a player just as they were about to join their bitter rivals. Mikel Arteta's side are set to sign the 27-year-old from Crystal Palace after it emerged they had agreed terms with both club and player on Wednesday night.

The breakthrough came as a surprise, given that north London neighbours Spurs had been on the brink of signing Eze. But those close to the England midfielder knew that his heart was truly set on Arsenal.

Eze supported the Gunners as a boy and was released from their academy aged 13, which left him ‘bawling’. Arsenal will now look to complete his £68million transfer in the coming days, having initially held reservations over the deal due to the rise of academy starlet Ethan Nwaneri.

But Kai Havertz’s recent injury eventually swayed them into pursuing potentially their seventh signing of the summer.

Eze’s dramatic U-turn, swapping N17 for N5, is of course not a first. Many will recall Sol Campbell’s shock move as a free agent in 2001. But another Gunners legend, Emmanuel Petit, snubbed Spurs for Arsenal in a way more akin to Eze’s transfer saga.

Spurs famously paid the Frenchman’s taxi fare on his way to sign for Arsenal. And reflecting on the late change of heart back in 2018, Petit told Mirror Football: “Tottenham put the contract on the table for me, I needed a couple of days to think about it but they didn’t expect what happened after that."

The midfielder visited London in 1997 to speak to Spurs chairman Sir Alan Sugar about a potential move from Monaco. Arsenal found out about the meeting and quickly sent word to the midfielder to not sign anything until he had heard Arsene Wenger’s pitch about the new project he was building.

Petit, who had played under Wenger at Monaco, asked Sugar for time to mull things over back at his own hotel, with Spurs paying the taxi to drive him there. But the Frenchman diverted the cab to Wenger’s house, where he also met vice-chairman David Dein.

Keen to compete for titles instead of fighting to stave off relegation, the future World Cup winner signed a £2.5m deal with the Gunners. Petit later recalled on talkSPORT: “I had meetings on the same day with Tottenham and Arsenal and had a meeting with Tottenham in the morning, but when I came to England I didn’t know about the rivalry between the two clubs.

"When I left the Spurs stadium, they booked me a cab and the cab driver asked me for directions, so I gave him the Arsenal address and I didn’t realise that the cab was pre-paid by Spurs, so they knew where I was going!

"I’d told Spurs that I needed time to think about it but knew that I had to see Arsenal, as well as other clubs in Italy and Spain. I told everyone that I’d make my mind up and when I knew the answer I would give it, but after a couple of days I signed for Arsenal and it went into newspapers and all of a sudden the story came. I realised the pressure of the rivalry then.”

Petit added in 2018: "It’s part of the legend now. David Dein still loves that story – and [more than] 20 years later he’s still telling it!”

He did not look back on his decision, forming a formidable midfield axis with France team-mate Patrick Vieira, which resulted in the pony-tail haired star winning a league and cup double in his first season.

After the success of the 1997/98 campaign, Petit spent two less successful years in north London before joining Barcelona and later Chelsea.

Eze will hope his bold decision will reap similar benefits as he looks to add the missing creative spark to Arteta’s side, with the Gunners hoping to get over the line this term after three successive years of finishing second.