Morning.
Wednesday August 20th might go down as one of the days Arsenal fans remember for a long, long time. It started with really bad news, and as much as the mood changed as the day went on, I think we have to acknowledge where it began. After a season in which injuries went a long way to derailing our title challenge, everyone was hoping for a clean-ish bill of health this time around.
Which meant David Ornstein’s report about a knee injury to Kai Havertz hit like a ton of bricks. There was no time-frame given regarding his potential absence, but when he went on to say that the Arsenal were exploring making another signing before the end of the window, you had to assume this wasn’t just a short-term thing. We await official confirmation of the full nature of the injury, and how long he’s going to be out, but it’s awful for the player, especially one who suffered a big hamstring injury last season and who spent all summer working really hard to get properly fit again.
We looked to be sorted up front with Havertz and Viktor Gyokeres, and now here we were just another sprain, ache, niggle, or suspension from having to play Mikel Merino as a striker again. So, fingers crossed for Kai and let’s wish him a speedy and uncomplicated recovery. I don’t think it’s useful to speculate on how long we’ll be without him, but it’s really tough luck for a player who would have been so important this season, and a big part of Mikel Arteta’s plans.
The question was: how would Arsenal respond? When would Arsenal respond? Did we need to sell some players before we could venture back into the market itself? I saw plenty of names bandied about. Ollie Watkins. Alexander Sorloth, who wants out of Atletico Madrid, and a player Andrea Berta knows well. Even Alexander Isak whose situation at Newcastle feels unsolvable now, and Arsenal’s interest in him goes back a long, long way.
I had an idea but it felt fanciful.
Hijack Eze?!
— arseblog (@arseblog.com) 2025-08-20T11:12:58.010Z
So, yesterday afternoon I went to the cinema (Weapons, if you’re asking – a bit mad but quite good fun), and as I was driving home, my WhatsApp started pinging like mad. I saw messages from James, Andrew, Lewis, and loads of other people. As I was driving though, I couldn’t look at my phone (which is on one of those windscreen magnet holder things, btw). I also didn’t hit a red light for about 5 minutes, so I was going a bit crazy wondering what was going on.
The truth is, I wasn’t really expecting good news. I thought I’d get a load of ‘Havertz ACL confirmed FFS‘ messages. I wasn’t expecting yet another bomba from David Ornstein and people reacting to that:
So, I hurry home to catch the buzz, and over the course of a couple of hours, pretty much everything fell into place. Eze, as we know, had been linked very strongly with Sp*rs, something which felt wrong and sad on many levels. However, while they had been on this case for quite a while, I’m told they were dilly-dallying over clauses in the contract which meant it remained an open case. They could easily have had it done by the time Arsenal moved, but they didn’t.
And when we moved on this, we moved fast, and our neighbours were left with egg on their face. We agreed terms with Crystal Palace in a flash, fee + add-ons, all done in a matter of hours. It does show you that if there’s a will on all sides, you can do a transfer really quickly. Eze, of course, has an Arsenal connection. He was at the club as a kid before being released, and is reportedly a fan, so given the choice between us and them, he was only going to go one way.
The details are such: Eze will play for Palace tonight as they face Norwegian side Fredrikstad in a Conference League qualifier. Btw, what a pack of twats UEFA are to relegate them from the Europa League proper and then make them play a qualifier in this competition. After which he’ll have a medical at Arsenal on Friday, and all going well the deal will be done. I guess there will be a sense of nervousness about his participation tonight (which doesn’t cup-tie him from the Champions League), but this was a condition of doing the deal quickly (one Sp*rs were going to have to deal with too, having delayed due to their contractual/negotiating incompetence). It also gives the player a chance to say a proper goodbye to the Selhurst Park faithful, a far better way than being taken off at Stamford Bridge having had a goal ruled out for a technicality nobody has ever seen before.
So, all eyes on tonight. The timing of that game, and the procedures following that to make the signing official, mean he won’t be an Arsenal player in time for the game against Leeds on Saturday. We’re looking at Anfield away as his first involvement, and what a game that might be to make your debut in.
Leaving aside how funny the reaction has been from that lot, who were almost at the finishing line with this deal but fell over their own feet in spectacular and hilarious fashion, it’s great to see how quickly Arsenal got this done. I feel really bad for Havertz, but to react the way we did is fantastic. Not only did we not waste a single second ensuring our squad had the required depth, we brought in a player so many Arsenal fans have wanted to sign this summer – me included. Obviously it’s not a like for like signing, but with Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and even Merino, we have options up front, and we’ve added a player who brings craft, creativity and fun to the team. Even if he’s not a striker, I think Eze has qualities we don’t have in abundance, and I can’t wait to see him in red and white.
I’m not happy we’ve lost a key player, but I am happy we signed a player of this calibre; I am happy there’s the potential for his story to come full circle having been let go by the club when he was just 13; and I am happy and relieved we’ve rescued him from the jaws of football’s great white shart. A player like Eze just didn’t deserve that.
As Andrew Allen put it to me, a real roller-coaster of a day in terms of news and emotion. Let’s not forget Kai, but let’s also enjoy the fact that football is quite mad. You think you’ve seen it all, and then it reminds you that it still has the capacity to surprise and delight in equal measure. And if Eberechi Eze can do that on the pitch to the same extent, we’ve got a better chance of being where we need to be in May.
Right, I’ll leave it there for now, but we’ve got an Arsecast coming this morning so stand-by for that. Have a good one!
