Arsenal confirmed the signing of striker Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace for 67 million pounds (80 million euros). Eze will wear the number 10 shirt and takes Arsenal’s spending this summer to around 300 million euros.
Eze, 27, has been the protagonist of one of the great soap operas of this summer, after Tottenham Hotspur negotiated his signing for two weeks and had a verbal agreement with the club and the player, but Arsenal ‘stole’ the transfer at the last moment.
Kai Havertz’s knee injury, which kept him out of training with his teammates this week, forced the Gunners to turn to the market and within hours they managed to reach the same agreement as Spurs with Eze and, given the player’s sentimental relationship with Arsenal, in whose academy he was until he was 13 years old, he decided to join them.
Mikel Arteta, Arsenal manager, said: “We are delighted to have signed Eberechi. He is a powerful and exciting footballer who will give us a new dimension in attack. In addition to his talent and intelligence as a footballer, I want to highlight how hard he has worked throughout his career to be where he is today. His career, his mentality and his ambition is exactly what we want in our team and we are delighted with what it means for him and his family to join this club. We are all looking forward to working with Eberechi soon,” added the Spanish coach.
With the signing of Eze, Arsenal’s spending this summer exceeds 300 million euros, having received only eight million euros in sales. Mikel Arteta’s side, runners-up in the last three Premier League seasons, have signed Martin Zubimendi (70), Viktor Gyokeres (66), Noni Madueke (56), Christian Mosquera (15), Christian Norgaard (12) and Kepa Arrizabalaga (5).
Eze will be available to Arteta for the next match, when the Gunners face Liverpool on Sunday.
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