Tottenham now have perfect window to hijack Arsenal transfer with 'advantage'

Tottenham now have a potential advantage over their North London rival when it comes to signing a Premier League star this summer, and not for the right reasons.

Spurs finished off their short pre-season tour of Asia on Sunday with a draw against Newcastle United in South Korea. Heung-min Son said goodbye as he prepares to join LAFC, but there was another tearful moment during the game.

James Maddison, who returned from a knee injury, suffered what looks to be a very serious injury to the same knee, and it now looks as though he is going to be sidelined for months.

Spurs boss Thomas Frank said after the game: “We're pretty sure it was the same knee he injured before. I think sometimes in life and football things can be both beautiful and brutal. That's what we got today. It looks like with Madders a bad injury and then on the other side unbelieveable scenes for Son from his team-mates and the respect from the Newcastle players. First we had the walkaround and then the team-mates gathered around and he was emotional. In the changing room it was more of the same. I just said a few things but not much because it's about Sonny and then he said a few things. It was beautiful."

Tottenham are now likely going to have to sign an attacking midfielder, and they did already try to do just that earlier in the window when they lodged a £60million bid for Morgan Gibbs-White.. The transfer was then called off when Nottingham Forest challenged the approach on a legal basis, and the end result was the midfielder signing a new deal with Forest.

Given that bid, Tottenham clearly have money to spend, and they should look no further than Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze. Eze is expected to leave Palace this summer to take a step up, and he is said to have a price tag of around £68million.

The England international did have a release clause worth that much that has now expired, but Palace will reportedly still ask for the same sort of price, with around half of it paid upfront.

Arsenal are very interested in a deal for Eze, but they are said to be keen on negotiating a deal for around £55million. Not only that, but Eze does not have a clear starting position at the Emirates Stadium, with Martin Odegaard holding down the number 10 role and Mikel Arteta having options out wide between Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Noni Madueke and Leandro Trossard.

At Tottenham, with Maddison now injured, Frank can promise Eze a starting role whenever he is fit, and in his favoured position of number 10. Naturally, Spurs can’t promise a title race this season, but they do have Champions League football to offer as a lure, and paired with the promise of regular starts, Tottenham may be able to hijack any Arsenal deal and fill what is now a clear void in their starting XI.

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