Tottenham offered transfer target contract only for him to join Arsenal in taxi they paid for

Arsenal's brutal hijacking of Eberechi Eze’s transfer to Tottenham is not the first time the Gunners have snatched a player from under their rivals' noses.

Mikel Arteta's Arsenal are set to sign the 27-year-old from Crystal Palace after it was announced they had agreed terms with both the club and player on Wednesday evening. The development came as a shock given that Spurs were seemingly on the cusp of signing Eze.

However, those close to the England international knew his true allegiance lay with Arsenal. As a child, Eze was an Arsenal supporter and was let go from their academy aged 13, which he admitted left him crying for days in his room.

Arsenal are looking to finalise his £68million transfer in the coming days, despite their initial hesitation over the deal due to the emergence of academy prodigy Ethan Nwaneri. However, Kai Havertz's injury news this week eventually tipped the scales in favour of pursuing their seventh summer signing.

Eze's dramatic change of heart, trading N17 for N5, is not unprecedented. Many will remember Sol Campbell's sensational switch on a free transfer in 2001. But another Arsenal legend, Emmanuel Petit, rejected Spurs for Arsenal in a manner more reminiscent of Eze's transfer saga.

Spurs infamously paid the fare for Petit's taxi ride to sign for Arsenal. Reflecting on the last-minute decision, Petit told the Mirror in 2018: “Tottenham put the contract on the table for me, I needed a couple of days to think about it but they didn’t expect what happened after that."

The midfielder travelled to London in 1997 to discuss a potential transfer from Monaco with then-Spurs chairman Sir Alan Sugar. Arsenal heard about the meeting and swiftly contacted the midfielder, urging him not to sign anything until he had listened to Arsene Wenger's vision for the new project he was overseeing.

Petit, who had previously played under Wenger at Monaco, asked for more time from Sugar to think about the offer at his hotel, with Spurs covering the taxi fare to drive him there. However, the Frenchman redirected the cab to Wenger's house, where he also met vice-chairman David Dein.

Eager to challenge for trophies rather than battle against relegation, the future World Cup winner completed a £2.5m move to the Gunners. Petit later told talkSPORT: “I had meetings on the same day with Tottenham and Arsenal and had a meeting with Tottenham in the morning, but when I came to England I didn’t know about the rivalry between the two clubs.

"When I left the Spurs stadium, they booked me a cab and the cab driver asked me for directions, so I gave him the Arsenal address and I didn’t realise that the cab was pre-paid by Spurs, so they knew where I was going!

"I’d told Spurs that I needed time to think about it but knew that I had to see Arsenal, as well as other clubs in Italy and Spain. I told everyone that I’d make my mind up and when I knew the answer I would give it.

"But after a couple of days I signed for Arsenal and it went into newspapers and all of a sudden the story came. I realised the pressure of the rivalry then.” Petit added in 2018: "It’s part of the legend now. David Dein still loves that story – and [more than] 20 years later he’s still telling it!”

He didn't look back on his decision, establishing a formidable midfield partnership with France team-mate Patrick Vieira, which saw the pony-tailed midfielder lift a league and cup double in his debut campaign. Following the success of the 1997/98 season, Petit spent two more years in north London before moving to Barcelona and then Chelsea.

Eze will hope his bold decision delivers similar rewards as he looks to add the missing creative spark to Arteta’s side, with the Gunners hoping to get over the line this term after three consecutive years of finishing second.

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