Miguel Delaney had something of a weird weekend with regards to his reporting on the deal between Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace over Eberechi Eze. Delaney first posted on social media that things were pointing towards a £55m deal plus incentives for the 27-year-old England international to move across town to North London, then followed it up by saying that things had become “difficult.”
Delaney was one of the journalists who suggested that Eze might not start Palace’s first match this past weekend over concern about his transfer, only for him to then start anyway (and score a banger of a free kick that was called back by a controversial VAR decision).
Clearly Delaney has sources, probably from Eze’s agents, who are feeding him information that changes frequently. It’s the nature of the business. His latest, in the Independent, suggests that the hold-up is Palace insisting that Tottenham spend more of the transfer fee up front so Palace can have more flexibility to bring in Eze’s replacement. Palace are now closely linked with Leicester attacking midfielder Bilal El Khannous, also on Tottenham’s list should the Eze deal fall through, but Spurs may be hesitant to front-load the payment too much out of liquidity concerns. Palace also have an interest in Club Brugge midfielder Christos Tzolis.
How accurate is this? Well, check your watch because by the time you read this it might have changed, but it feels pretty reasonable to me. Palace are also at risk of losing Marc Guehi and while they’re getting good money in for the players they’ve sold in recent seasons, they don’t want to be left too short-handed. I’d say it’s a reasonable ask to have a larger down payment, but it also depends on how much they’re asking for and whether there’s any wiggle room. There’s also the possibility that Palace want to hang onto Eze until after their Europa Conference League playoff match against Fredrikstad on Thursday.
I’m still pretty bullish on this deal and think it happens, but it’s not a Tottenham transfer without a little late drama. In the meantime: calma, calma, calma. Alternately, just lie back and think of Savinho.
