Tottenham Hotspur supporters spent the entire weekend getting their hopes up that one of the best attacking players would soon be joining their squad to fill a gaping hole left by star man James Maddison, who just suffered a devastating ACL tear that left Spurs even thinner in an important area of need.
Eberechi Eze, worse yet, didn't just curve Tottenham at the last sefcond, but he also curved Spurs for their biggest rivals, Arsenal FC. With Eze bound to the other big club in North London, Tottenham have been left in a lurch, and Spurs supporters are tired of hearing members of the media give Daniel Levy excuses for him.
The details are plain and simple, and the real story of what happened can easily be interpreted by anyone with common sense. According to the most reliable transfer reporter in the world, Fabrizio Romano, Arsenal submitted a total package transfer offer of 60 million pounds to Crystal Palace for Eberechi Eze. Although that financial deal is similar to what Tottenham submitted, the difference, per Fab, is that the Gunners put in easier add-ons and faster payment deals to beat Spurs to the punch.
Arsenal are simply more competent than Tottenham
Basically, all Arsenal did is what any reasonable, competent top club would do. They sweetened the deal and made things more convenient for the selling club, enticing Palace to pick them over Spurs. Eze is from London and has no dog in the fight of which team he'll play for. He loves both. Maybe he prefers Arsenal over some childhood affinity, but he was just as ready to sign for Spurs; it's just that they didn't sign his release clause, waited to sign him, and then didn't give his parent club the best offer. It's really that simple.
Tottenham could have offered a little more money than Arsenal. They could have activated Eze's release clause last week knowing that Arsenal were still lurking in the mix despite not seeming like outright favorites. They could have offered more add-ons, easier add-on activations, or done any of the things that Arsenal did to make the deal more enticing.
Instead, they didn't do any of those easy things. Instead, they let Arsenal have the opportunity to come in and make the move when they could have - and should have - closed this deal before the Gunners could have made their move. Tottenham only have themselves to blame, and Fab's information on the final deal that took Eze to Arsenal should only make Spurs fans that much angirer at Daniel Levy and the club's brass for screwing this all up.