Good morning, no, great morning, TSFers. I’m still on cloud nine from yesterday’s news that Arsenal have hijacked Spurs’ deal for Eberechi Eze. Everything about it is so perfect. He’s an Arsenal supporter coming home. He spent time in the academy (we’ll just skate past the fact he was let go from the academy and he said it made him cry for a week straight). We snatched him out from under their noses. If you want a laugh, go check Spurs sites or the r/coys subreddit. They’ve totally lost it.
Eze is
also an extremely talented player that will significantly improve Arsenal’s attack. He might finally be the left-sided analog to Martin Ødegaard on the right that we’ve been longing for. He has that je ne sais quois unpredictability to unlock a defense on his own. The Arsenal attack has often been accused of rigidity and predictability. Eze is flexible and unpredictable. He’s excellent from the dead ball (as we’ve discovered Declan Rice is, too — no more free kicks, Martin).
He also has a wicked shot from distance. Arsenal have lacked quality outside shooting for a while, and it probably has allowed opposing defenses to pack the box a bit more. Eze’s quality from range will force defenses to step out to challenge him, which opens up passing lanes and space.
Shooting is a clear focal point for Arsenal’s transfer business. Eze can rip it. Viktor Gyökeres can too, and we saw in the preseason that he’s always looking to create that bit of space for a shot. Noni Madueke had the most take-ons resulting in shots in the Premier League. Mikel Arteta wants his side to shoot more. That’s good. Shooting is how you score, in case you didn’t know. No more walking it in (wink).
I’m still hoping that Kai Havertz’s injury isn’t serious. Reports are that he picked it up in the United match, which given there wasn’t any specific incident that we can point to, probably rules out an ACL tear. It seems like we’re in strain / meniscus territory, which puts him on a couple of weeks to two or three month timeline, depending on what injury it actually is and the severity.
So while we keep our fingers crossed for Kai, let’s enjoy the Eberechi Eze signing. In the comments yesterday, I said it was like the Mesut Özil news. Incredible player, totally out of the blue, and freaking amazing.
