Eberechi Eze admits love for Arsenal in unseen footage amid Tottenham transfer links

An old video of Arsenal and Tottenham transfer target Eberechi Eze has surfaced, in which he is seen expressing his love for the Gunners.

The Crystal Palace midfielder has been linked with both north London clubs this summer. Initially, it was thought that Arsenal would be Eze's next club due to their interest in signing a left-sided attacking midfielder.

However, their fierce rivals Tottenham now seem to be leading the race to sign the 27-year-old England international. Spurs are reportedly keen on signing Eze for a fee of £55million plus an additional £5m in add-ons, after his release clause of £68.5m expired earlier this summer. Yet, they have not yet reached an agreement with Palace.

Eze is said to be interested in a move to Tottenham because of their Champions League football. And he may have already played his last Premier League match for the Eagles against Chelsea, where his spectacular free-kick was controversially ruled out.

Arsenal's interest in Eze has cooled since they announced a new long-term contract for 18-year-old Ethan Nwaneri, as Eze's arrival could potentially hinder both Nwaneri and 15-year-old prodigy Max Dowman's progression into the starting line-up.

While Spurs will have no problem picking up the pieces, their supporters might not be pleased by an old interview of Eze that has emerged online. In the clip, said to have been filmed in 2018 when he was still a promising talent at Queens Park Rangers, Eze clearly declares his loyalty to his boyhood club, Arsenal.

When quizzed by journalist Alessandro Morolli-Schiavone about his favourite Premier League side, Eze said: "Arsenal. I've just supported them from young. The way they play. I played with them when I was younger as well so they're my favourite team.”

Pressed on whether he'd leave if the Gunners came knocking, he sheepishly answered: "I don't know about all of that. I'm a QPR player now and I'm happy to be playing for QPR." Eze was also asked who would win the Premier League that season (2018/19), to which he boldly replied: "Arsenal. I believe, somehow."

He continued: "When I was younger, I used to love Thierry Henry, and that's sort of why I decided to sign for them. Just growing up playing for them, I've grown a love for them."

Palace snapped up Eze from QPR during the summer of 2020 for around £17m. Several years earlier, he'd been part of Arsenal's renowned Hale End academy setup, though he later admitted he was left "crying for a week" after his release aged 13.

Since then, he's developed into one of the Premier League's most exciting players at Selhurst Park, racking up 167 appearances across all competitions whilst netting 39 goals - with 14 of those strikes coming last term.

Tottenham manager Thomas Frank was asked about a possible transfer following his team's season-opening victory against Burnley, but kept his cards close to his chest.

He said: "We are definitely in the market. I said it before, Daniel and Johan and Vinai are working relentlessly to try to do their best to improve the squad, but we only want to improve the squad if we can get players in that can improve the squad. I want to keep it like this."

Asked specifically about Eze, the Dane responded: "I have that nice principle that I would like to speak about the players that are in-house and all the other speculations I don't want to speak too much about that."

In addition to agreeing on a transfer fee, Eze's potential exit hinges on whether Palace can secure a suitable replacement before the transfer window shuts. The Eagles are currently pursuing Leicester City's Bilal El Khannouss and Club Brugge midfielder Christos Tzolis. Eze is expected to be available for Palace's Conference League play-off on Thursday.

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