Tottenham Hotspur are easily one of the biggest clubs in world football, and there's a strong case to be made that when it comes to organic support, they are the most beloved club in London. They are even the biggest club in the league on TikTok, and both that statistic and the images of the crowd to celebrate their Europa League triumph are reminders of how massive Spurs are.
The problem for Tottenham is that their Premier League and Champions League cabinets are barren, and it all goes back to ENIC and Daniel Levy. It's pathetically simple. Tottenham don't invest into their club, and as massive as the fanbase is, the club's mentality has been miniscule.
And there's no better way to highlight that than to compare how Chelsea and even Arsenal invest on the transfer market. Obviously, Tottenham are not going to come anywhere near Chelsea's haphazard spending on the mercato - nor should they - but even Arsenal, who have struggled to win major trophies in their own right lately, have lapped them in transfer battles.
Already this summer, Arsenal beat Tottenham to the punch for defensive midfielder Christian Norgaard, who should have been a slam-dunk signing from Brentford as a vetearn leader in the 6 position for Thomas Frank to bring with him to Spurs. Instead, Arsenal bagged him after already spending big bucks on Martin Zubimendi. Tottenham have signed Mohammed Kudus this summer, but their one big investment is dwarfed by Arsenal signing Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyokeres, and Zubi.
Tottenham have to win this transfer battle
However, Tottenham may be turning a corner to close the summer transfer window, because Fabrizio Romano recently revealed on the Give Me Sport YouTube channel that Tottenham are actually ahead of Arsenal to sign Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze, owing to the fact that they are being "very strong" in their pursuit of the FA Cup-winning attacking midfielder.
This report is notable not only because it represents the frustratingly rare case of Tottenham finally getting the leg up on their North London rivals for a marquee Premier League transfer target, but it's also notable because Arsenal were viewed as overwhelming favorites to sign Eze this summer.
Tottenham were interested in Eze earlier in the window, but not only were Arsenal favored, but Spurs backed off of Eze and basically gave the Gunners the green light to sign him. Now, Arsenal already have a top-class No. 10 in Martin Odegaard, so that's probably why they were slow to actually sign him.
That's given Spurs the opening to circle back to Eze, and with James Maddison out with a torn ACL and Dejan Kulusevski also injured for another month, there's more of an impetus from Spurs to sign Eze. If Tottenham can't close this deal out over their North London rivals, then that will be more egg frying on top of Daniel Levy's head and dripping down his face.