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Eberechi Eze

DubaiSpur said:
Rules exist to be broken mate. That's where the Premier League is now - anything blatantly unfair or against the rules is waved through with a wink and a nod, including some outright illegal activity (like Liverpool under Klopp having that strangely consistent on-off spell where they ran like they were on PEDs one year, then crashed the next, with 63% of their squad having asthma in the bargain).

The entire enterprise is setting itself up for a Calciopoli moment - it's exactly the toxic miasma of collusion Serie A was in the 1990s, but on a much, much larger scale.
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Indeed. It is as filthy as it's ever been!

But they cannot take moments like May last year in Bilbao or Richy's wonder goal from us!
 
DubaiSpur said:
Oh, one other thing - the Director of Football job is meant to be one where you have contacts that tell you about situations like this, so you can avoid them. Agents, binmen, accountants - you're essentially valuable for your network of informants.

For those interested, read up on how these types operate in Italy - it's a hypercompetitive job where knowing which mistress a player saw on a particular weekend is priceless information that DoFs will bid for, just to get an edge in transfer negotiations.

The Prem is like that now. It wasn't before, but it is now exactly like Italian football used to be in the 1990s - flush with cash, hypercompetitive, riven through with legal and illegal means to gain an edge, from doping to tapping up to shady accounting and more.

In fact, the PL does all those things on a level that would make the old Italians blush.

Paratici lives for this world - it's his world, and it's no coincidence that we made some of our best post-Poch transfers under him, from Romero to Deki and Kulu.

But Lange? It's just hard to see him survive in a world like that. The man has no great rolodex to rely on, his experience is relatively minimal (Denmark, a year at Villa and then tossed for the actual DoF in Monchi). So I suspect it weakens us in these sorts of situations where knowing about this deal Arsenal had for Eze through contacts, etc., would have saved us a shedload of embarassment.

It's no surprise Paratici is creeping back into the scope - I suspect he'll oust Lange before long, and to be honest, I think it would help us.
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DubaiSpur said:
It isn't that he can't help himself - I think that's personalizing things to him too much mate.

It's more that the club, as a whole, just is not run the way the clubs we measure ourselves up against are run. It isn't just Levy (though he does play a part in it) - the club is run in a way that would have kept us perfectly competitive in 2005. 2010. Maybe even 2015. But sadly, not in 2025.

And that isn't because of a conscious decision to keep us in the past or anything silly like that - it's that the environment has evolved to such utterly hypercompetitive levels in 2025 that it has left us behind. Decisions that used to work well, no longer do - certainties that once worked for us, now do not exist.

Our peers are now run by literal nation-states, criminal gangsters, ruthless heads of megacorporations with unfathomable billions. They employ hundreds of world-class people to get every edge possible, on and off the pitch, legal and illegal, across every field - medical, legal, financial. To them the concept of haggling for weeks on a few million pounds would seem quaint - they have plans for transfer targets years in advance, and can spend an extra 70m after already dropping 200m like it's nothing.

Against this, our approach is reactive - we still employ many of the same people we did 20 years ago, make decisions the same reactive way, approach negotiations the same cautious and slow way. And the environment around us has changed to make this no longer competitive.

To boil it down to the simplest analogy - 15 years ago if we had a target, we only needed to be worried about one of the big four gazumping us, we otherwise had the pick of the litter, and clubs had little leverage in trying to withstand our negotiating.

Today, most clubs in the top ten could easily gazump us - the old top four, plus Saudi Sportswashing Machine, City, Villa et al. Plus, most of the other 10 clubs also have rich and ruthlessly ambitious owners, so they don't really get pushed around the way they used to, plus they can all employ the best lawyers, statisticians, etc. to get every edge possible.

The Premier League is an utter monstrouserty, that has left us behind. You can rage against this, as I did for years. Or you can accept it as a sad fact, and look for happiness where you can. I'm going to try to keep doing that.

We'll find some other targets. There'll be a team out on the weekend. Life moves on. And maybe one day, these realities will change, either through new ownership, new ways of operating, or some cataclysm that upends the landscape of the league itself.

Until then - que sera, sera. :)
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It’s hard to argue with this.

I’m willing to wait until the end of the window to draw a firm conclusion though. Because one thing I will say is that we do have a very deep squad now. We are short in this ten position, but otherwise we have really good options.

And so, if we end the window with real depth all over and with players that Frank is confidently proclaiming are his style of player, then I think I’m still going to be pretty happy. If Frank felt Eze wouldn’t be a perfect tactical fit, although there’s a small chance of that being the case, then I still think we can end this window ok.

I’ve swung around to being a really big Levy critic, for versions of the reasons you mention above. To get it wrong in such a high profile way twice in the same window like this is so abominably bad though, that I have to believe we have a greater plan in place. The alternative is to believe that Levy really is not up to it. And this whole business has passed him by. That would be a much more sobering reality to deal with than having lost out on a player here and there.

And so I don’t want to believe that just yet. Maybe we break through on Savinho. Maybe there’s a 10 that Frank loves, and we just don’t know about it yet. Maybe Lange and Fabio have been waiting in the wings this whole time to activate the master plan. Until the window shuts, I’m willing to believe these things. Otherwise, the alternative is too bad to bear!
 
thfcsteff said:
I think there is a personal element TBH, especially at late stages of deals which are waiting to be dotted and crossed; he LOVES to 'win' something. I am speculating when I say the next bit; it isn't hard to imagine him wanting to 'win' something over Parrish.
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For sure mate, but I guess my point would be that, if we acted like the other clubs now do, we wouldn't have been in this scenario to begin with. Like, if we had a DoF who had enough pull with agents that one that was in the know told him about this deal Arsenal had with Eze (i.e, CAA Stellar, who we *supposedly* have a relationship with). Or an accountant aware of Palace's ploy. Or, say, a lawyer involved in the negotiations.

This is what the Premier League is now like - being a DoF in this environment is essentially trying to find ways to commit industrial espionage to stay on top of the transfer market. The reason I say this with confidence is because this is *exactly* how things worked in Italy in the leadup to Calciopoli, and the Premier League is no less deluded or hubristic than the Italians were.

My feeling is that we consistently don't dare to go where other clubs go - we try to play by the rules and the way we operated in 2010. And that burns us because, in 2025 - *no one else does*. That's how Levy even finds himself in a place where he can happily indulge his desire to 'win' a deal for weeks, without knowing that Parish was playing him for a sucker and a far richer and more ruthless club in Arsenal had already stitched him up.

thfcsteff said:
And yesm, agreed!
You'll have noticed I'm not angry about it per se (only perhaps myself a bit for believing this would be different)...I remain far happier that Kudus happened (if you'd given me the choice -especially seeing what Frank values- I'd have gone for Kudus every time). Wish we could have them all, but yes, as we'd agree, wish in one hand and brick in the other, see which fills up first. Put it this way, despite this blip in belief, I tend to have to wahs my hands far more with regards to what we do in these situations LOL! Now pass the hand sanitizer!
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For sure mate - don't blame yourself for believing, it's why football is beautiful. Because once in a thousand times...it pays off. It did in Bilbao. :)
 
SissokoWasGood (BoL) said:
It’s hard to argue with this.

I’m willing to wait until the end of the window to draw a firm conclusion though. Because one thing I will say is that we do have a very deep squad now. We are short in this ten position, but otherwise we have really good options.
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I think we have *decent* options, but 'really good' is pushing it a little, I think. For example, compare the forward lines of the top six clubs and I think we're probably bottom of that group. Likewise, our midfield isn't really comparable to the others we call our peers. Our defense is great (when fit), but that's not the same as a really deep full 25-man squad.
SissokoWasGood (BoL) said:
I’ve swung around to being a really big Levy critic, for versions of the reasons you mention above. To get it wrong in such a high profile way twice in the same window like this is so abominably bad though, that I have to believe we have a greater plan in place. The alternative is to believe that Levy really is not up to it. And this whole business has passed him by. That would be a much more sobering reality to deal with than having lost out on a player here and there.
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For sure mate - it's a sobering reality, but it's also not one that reflects too badly on him. It's something I realized - yes he might now be outmoded compared to his peers. But no one stays at the top of their game forever, and we all have a tendency to rest on our laurels. What he did, *worked* in the late 2000s and early 2010s - it's thus easy to stay stuck in that mode even as the world moves on around you, to fall back on what gave you success in the past. It happened to Mourinho, it happened to Wenger, it will happen to Guardiola - why would that not apply to owners/chairmen like Levy? It just makes him human, same as anyone else.

The only thing that works forever is money, which Levy doesn't have - that's Lewis's jurisdiction, and I doubt he knows we exist. So, I can't be too hard on Levy for being human - maybe just a little sad that he hasn't realized this himself.

SissokoWasGood (BoL) said:
And so I don’t want to believe that just yet. Maybe we break through on Savinho. Maybe there’s a 10 that Frank loves, and we just don’t know about it yet. Maybe Lange and Fabio have been waiting in the wings this whole time to activate the master plan. Until the window shuts, I’m willing to believe these things. Otherwise, the alternative is too bad to bear!
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Maybe mate. For sure there's still time left - let's see what happens. :)
 
Bishop said:
They didn't want him even 3 days ago now they do. I know it helps make you feel better about the deal but you're lying to yourself if you think Arsenal have been trying for him all summer. They haven't.
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They have mate. The article by Miguel Delaney is pretty authoritative in that respect - they agreed a deal in principle for him 10 days ago, and our interest only started after that.

As per Delaney, Palace used us to get Arsenal to up their bid, but both they and Eze knew that Arsenal were in for him - and probably would close the deal if we showed any sign of approaching an agreement.

We did, and Arsenal moved. But the actual verbal agreement with Palace/Eze was done 10 days ago, which means negotiations would have taken place earlier this summer.

If anything, it's a lapse in our intelligence - we should have known this before going into the whole dog-and-pony show. Typically, that is the fault of the DoF, whose job is to maintain domain awareness of this sort of thing. Hence why I think Lange is cooked come window's end, and Paratici probably slides in afterward.
 
This definitely feels like it has undone a lot of good work. We won the Europa League and yet lost out to a team that cant even win a league cup these days. All that we’ll see for the next few weeks will be Arsenal supporters taunting us about Eze and rightfully so. It has appeared that we had won the race for him. We should have but no, instead we are the laughing stock of a football club that has pretty much fumbled hard two big deals over the summer and still lack serious pieces to our jigsaw with only ten days of the window left.

I can’t believe that we will sign two ‘right fit’ players in this time. Especially not for a fair price. We will drop points against City, as we won’t be fully ready, and against Bournemouth the atmosphere will be so toxic.

I liked Eze until I realised I have to question his ambition to play for winners. Or why else sign for a team that hasnt won a true trophy since 2019?! I mean he’s literally leaving a team that has won more recently so that he can ‘challenge’ for trophies?!
 
DubaiSpur said:
I think we have *decent* options, but 'really good' is pushing it a little, I think. For example, compare the forward lines of the top six clubs and I think we're probably bottom of that group. Likewise, our midfield isn't really comparable to the others we call our peers. Our defense is great (when fit), but that's not the same as a really deep full 25-man squad.


For sure mate - it's a sobering reality, but it's also not one that reflects too badly on him. It's something I realized - yes he might now be outmoded compared to his peers. But no one stays at the top of their game forever, and we all have a tendency to rest on our laurels. What he did, *worked* in the late 2000s and early 2010s - it's thus easy to stay stuck in that mode even as the world moves on around you, to fall back on what gave you success in the past. It happened to Mourinho, it happened to Wenger, it will happen to Guardiola - why would that not apply to owners/chairmen like Levy? It just makes him human, same as anyone else.

The only thing that works forever is money, which Levy doesn't have - that's Lewis's jurisdiction, and I doubt he knows we exist. So, I can't be too hard on Levy for being human - maybe just a little sad that he hasn't realized this himself.



Maybe mate. For sure there's still time left - let's see what happens. :)
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Yeah I think we have decent / good options relevant to our strategy of signing good young players that will be most effective in 3+ years time. And think we do have real depth in most areas. But I agree, I look at Liverpool’s attacking options if we get Isaak and we’re just way off them.

But starting from our base, with our strategy, our squad and this window with Eze / MGW + Savinho and I would have considered that a job well done. I’m not sure what’s possible now in order to get me back into that place. It will inevitably be a more unproven signing that will take some time to adapt, leaving us waiting for the time they can really start to be effective.
 
DubaiSpur said:
For sure mate, but I guess my point would be that, if we acted like the other clubs now do, we wouldn't have been in this scenario to begin with. Like, if we had a DoF who had enough pull with agents that one that was in the know told him about this deal Arsenal had with Eze (i.e, CAA Stellar, who we *supposedly* have a relationship with). Or an accountant aware of Palace's ploy. Or, say, a lawyer involved in the negotiations.
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Yes indeed. We don't learn our lessons. I don't believe Arsenal had any side deal with Eze TBH. They had a valuation. When Havertz was fit they were satisfied not to pay what Palace wanted. We came in with a bid two weeks ago, agreed terms with the player, he was ready to move, we had the deal agreed, then came those last second shennegans (and maybe it was Parrish shifting things on Levy with the add-ons, but the reality is we're talking about 7 milion in add-ons so it seems like a 'game' at that point), Havertz gets hurt and the goons are decisive and take advantage of both our deal agreement and the dithering. If Havertz doesn't get injured, they don't come in for him IMO. There IS always the chance that Parrish was playing Levy to play him - who knows? Yet we still arrive at the point where whatever the add-on dingdongery was, we're talking about not resolving an issue surround 7 million in 'potential' monies to be paid.

I cannot blame anyone in this situation other than us, and that includes Eze. I'd give more than a penny for Vinai's thoughts right now.
It's on us. You know. I know. Everyone knows. As you said, we move on and hope to enjoy whatever signings we might get across the line now. I am enjoying Kudus. great deal!



DubaiSpur said:
This is what the Premier League is now like - being a DoF in this environment is essentially trying to find ways to commit industrial espionage to stay on top of the transfer market. The reason I say this with confidence is because this is *exactly* how things worked in Italy in the leadup to Calciopoli, and the Premier League is no less deluded or hubristic than the Italians were.
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I agree.


DubaiSpur said:
My feeling is that we consistently don't dare to go where other clubs go - we try to play by the rules and the way we operated in 2010. And that burns us because, in 2025 - *no one else does*. That's how Levy even finds himself in a place where he can happily indulge his desire to 'win' a deal for weeks, without knowing that Parish was playing him for a sucker and a far richer and more ruthless club in Arsenal had already stitched him up.
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I agree and think he also cannot help himself.

DubaiSpur said:
For sure mate - don't blame yourself for believing, it's why football is beautiful. Because once in a thousand times...it pays off. It did in Bilbao. :)
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Indeed my friend...
 
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SissokoWasGood (BoL) said:
Yeah I think we have decent / good options relevant to our strategy of signing good young players that will be most effective in 3+ years time. And think we do have real depth in most areas. But I agree, I look at Liverpool’s attacking options if we get Isaak and we’re just way off them.

But starting from our base, with our strategy, our squad and this window with Eze / MGW + Savinho and I would have considered that a job well done. I’m not sure what’s possible now in order to get me back into that place. It will inevitably be a more unproven signing that will take some time to adapt, leaving us waiting for the time they can really start to be effective.
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For me, if we give Frank the pacy, versatile wide/left forward he wants that'd be great. If we added an MGW profile midfielder, wonderful. If we added Hincapie I'd check to make sure that the toad I licked wasn't a special one...
 
I find it hard to believe anything in the media concerning this deal. First of all Arsenal have been in for Eze all summer. Secondly why the heck would we offer Richie to Palace knowing the games we have to play and the squad depth? Makes absolutely no sense. Thirdly the emotional narratives in the media by the very people who seek to create drama out of nothing.

This screams to me of another agent play. We have been used once more to force a deal.

On the flip side if this is true, we have gone from the Ange days when players would reject 'bigger clubs' to come play for Spurs to now being rejected. That is another reason why this makes no sense.
That said, we move.
 
This makes more sense than the bullcrap I had been reading.
DubaiSpur said:
They have mate. The article by Miguel Delaney is pretty authoritative in that respect - they agreed a deal in principle for him 10 days ago, and our interest only started after that.

As per Delaney, Palace used us to get Arsenal to up their bid, but both they and Eze knew that Arsenal were in for him - and probably would close the deal if we showed any sign of approaching an agreement.

We did, and Arsenal moved. But the actual verbal agreement with Palace/Eze was done 10 days ago, which means negotiations would have taken place earlier this summer.

If anything, it's a lapse in our intelligence - we should have known this before going into the whole dog-and-pony show. Typically, that is the fault of the DoF, whose job is to maintain domain awareness of this sort of thing. Hence why I think Lange is cooked come window's end, and Paratici probably slides in afterward.
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DeanoAustin said:
Or perhaps there is a strategy in place where we have a number of targets and we move on to the next one where we may have already done some of the groundwork.
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I thought that's what Eze was after MGW :D. But it ended up looking more likely peace talks with Russia and Ukraine would conclude quicker....
 
afsoc4life said:
I find it hard to believe anything in the media concerning this deal. First of all Arsenal have been in for Eze all summer. Secondly why the heck would we offer Richie to Palace knowing the games we have to play and the squad depth? Makes absolutely no sense. Thirdly the emotional narratives in the media by the very people who seek to create drama out of nothing.

This screams to me of another agent play. We have been used once more to force a deal.

On the flip side if this is true, we have gone from the Ange days when players would reject 'bigger clubs' to come play for Spurs to now being rejected. That is another reason why this makes no sense.
That said, we move.
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How do you know any of that is true? Or is it your opinion?
 
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