Tottenham fans can finally exhale. Their worst nightmare is a reality—Eberechi Eze has officially joined bitter rivals Arsenal. It can’t get much worse than this.
If there is a silver lining to the most depressing day for Spurs supporters in recent memory, it is that the death blow came swiftly. But let’s be honest, there are no positives to take from the humiliating debacle. Fans have every right to be apoplectic, and they have every right to direct their contempt toward Daniel Levy and ENIC before the Bournemouth match.
The Tottenham chairman has racked up a laundry list of offenses this summer that will surely be paraded along the High Road on August 30. He sacked Ange Postecoglou just two weeks after winning the Europa League and ending the club’s soul-crushing 17-year trophy drought. He procrastinated before announcing Thomas Frank as his replacement, giving other clubs a two-week head start in the transfer market. He bizarrely declared during in an interview with Gary Neville that he wanted Spurs to win the Premier League, and the Champions League. He was then bullied by Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marianakis and failed to finalize the Morgan Gibbs-White deal. He has been unable to sell a single first-team player other than club legend Son Heung-min. And, most damming of all, he committed the unforgivable sin of allowing Arsenal to steal Eberechi Eze from under his nose, rather than triggering the player’s release clause.
There will be no shortage of football executives and agents celebrating Daniel Levy’s spectacular summer of failure. His arrogant, small-minded negotiation tactics have now been laid bare for all the world to mock.
Respected Sky Sports football reporter Dharmesh Sheth went so far as to call Levy’s actions “outlandish” during an episode of "Last Word On Spurs" following the Eberechi Eze news. We have since learned that not only did the Tottenham chairman refuse to trigger the £68 million release clause, which Arsenal ultimately agreed to pay after it had expired; he attempted to use Richarlison as bait in a convoluted scheme to hijack Yoane Wissa’s move to Newcastle.
But the fall-out from the Eze debacle will ripple far beyond the chairman’s insulated bubble. The consequences will be felt at every level of the club, and beyond.
Outside the Stadium
The facts of the case will only amplify the chorus of enraged fans demanding that Levy step down from football-related activities at Tottenham. While only a small, die-hard contingent chose to join the “Change For Spurs” protest before the Burnley match on opening day, Levy can now expect thousands of supporters to gather outside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before Bournemouth game. National news outlets will be there to cover the demonstration, and Daniel Levy’s name will be on everyone’s lips.
Within the Dressing Room
How will the fury of the fans affect the morale of the squad? Will it galvanize the team, or cause new captain Cristian Romero to question his decision to sign a long-term contract? How will Thomas Frank respond to losing a crucial target just ten days before the transfer window closes? How will he manage to compete in four competitions without a number ten? Was he even consulted on the negotiations? Would anyone blame him for seeking a more serious project elsewhere in two years? How will Richarlison react to the news that he was involved in the Eze deal? Was he aware that he was part of the negotiations?
At Board Level
Daniel Levy has lost what remained of his credibility with fans, but what about the board of directors? How will Vivienne Lewis react to the public humiliation? Will she or Non-Executive Director Peter Charrington report their concerns to the Lewis Family that Levy’s negotiating tactics single-handedly caused the deal to collapse? How worried are they that other owners and player agents are now unwilling to do business with him? And how will CEO Vinai Venkatesham respond to his new boss being publicly embarrassed by his previous employer?
In the Corporate World
Will the board be concerned that Levy’s mismanagement has diminished Tottenham’s reputation to the extent that corporate sponsors will not want to associate their brands with the club? Have his actions caused sponsors to walk away from naming rights deals during the past six year? Is Levy’s failure to secure deals with traditional “selling clubs” proof that, under his leadership, Tottenham is no longer a “big six” club?
Across the Premier League
Has Levy’s hubris priced Tottenham out of the market for other targets now that every club knows Spurs are desperate to sign an attacking midfielder. Did he neglect to pursue other options while wasting weeks on two failed deals? How could he fail to sign a replacement for the injured James Maddison in three weeks, while Arsenal did so in three days? Did he really enlist Fabio Paratici to help Crystal Palace sign Bilal El-Khannouss as Eze’s replacement? Are his negotiation tactics so toxic that Manchester City, Aston Villa or AS Monaco will now summarily reject any offer for Savinho, Morgan Rogers or Maghnes Akliouche?
The optics of losing Eze are worse than Sol Campbell’s defection to Arsenal while he was Spurs’ captain. But this time, Spurs fans can’t even be upset with Arsenal. The Kroenkes approached Eze months ago. The player agreed to terms with his boyhood club. They backed out of the deal and gave Spurs free reign to sign the star midfielder. When Kai Haavertz got injured, they moved quickly to seal the deal, while Daniel Levy was focused on shafting Steve Parish out of a few million quid. Fair play to them. They have taught Tottenham a lesson that will resonate painfully for decades—this is how a big club operates.