James Maddison’s ACL injury in pre-season has forced Tottenham’s hand in the transfer market.
Indeed, Spurs were previously prioritising other positions – notably a new right winger and a central midfielder, areas addressed with the respective signings of Mohammed Kudus and Joao Palhinha – but Maddison’s season-curtailing issue means the club must dip into the market as soon as possible.
Factor in Dejan Kulusevski’s patella problem, one sustained against Crystal Palace in May and required surgery, and Son Heung-Min’s departure for LAFC, and Spurs’ need for a creator-in-chief is far more pressing now than it was at the start of the month. Three of Spurs’ top four players for chances created in the Premier League last season are either injured or have been sold, with Pedro Porro the last man standing.
And if the 4-0 mauling at the hands of Bayern Munich is anything to go by, the north London side need to act quickly. In the wake of Maddison’s injury, Spurs were linked with a host of number 10s. Jack Grealish was mooted with a switch to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the England international ultimately ending up at Everton earlier this week, while the club had previously been credited with an interest in Xavi Simons, who looks set for a move to Chelsea.
While there are other creators in the market – Thomas Frank could push for a raid of former side Brentford for Mikkel Damsgaard, while Bilel El Khannouss has also been mooted with a summer switch – Spurs have seemingly reignited their interest in Palace star Eberechi Eze. The Eagles are keen to retain Eze’s services and for good reason, the 27-year-old writing his name into the club’s history books for his winning strike in the FA Cup final back in May, delivering the south London side’s first major piece of silverware at Manchester City’s expense.
However, Eze does have a £68m release clause in his contract, which, contrary to previous reports, expires later this week. While Spurs are said to be low-balling their capital counterparts in their push to sign Eze, there is a general consensus that the latter will move to the former by the time the transfer window closes next month. It’s a widespread belief that the versatile attacker would have been a Spurs player already had Ange Postecoglou kept his job.
And while Eze’s potential move to Tottenham means they run the risk of having three 10s on the books, his and Kulusevski’s respective to abilities to play out wide combined with the number of games Spurs will play this season shows there is room for another in the squad. Reports of a possible move to Arsenal threatened to derail any potential transfer to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, however their interest looks to have cooled after Ethan Nwaneri put pen to paper on a new long-term deal at the Emirates earlier this week. Only Spurs’ dilly-dallying could derail this switch now.
But just how does Eze compare to both Maddison and Kulusevski? Using the Comparison Matrix with their per 90 Premier League 2024/25 stats, Eze would offer an attacking alternative that the current Spurs pair fail to do so.
Not only did Eze complete more take ons per 90 (2.4 compared to 1.7 and 1.5 of Maddison and Kulusevski, respectively), the Palace star also managed a better take on success rate (51.94%) than the pair, though this was marginally higher than Maddison (49.25%). Even so, Spurs lacked consistent ball carriers in the Premier League last season, meaning the addition of Eze in a vital area of the pitch would prove a significant boost for Frank’s side. The signing of Kudus does go a long way to correcting this weakness.
That said, while Eze’s take-on qualities are a bonus, Spurs will be signing him for his ability to pry open defences. With a solid end product, though, Eze did manage to match Maddison’s average of 2 chances created per 90, a metric that actually fell below Kulusevski (2.5), while it was the absent England star that trumped the pair for assists per 90 (0.4).
Just 0.3 assists per 90 is an unfair stick with which to beat Eze, however. He can only provide the chances for teammates and if they don’t sport their shooting boots, then the opportunity he does present will go to waste. In addition, what did stand out about Eze was his ball retention qualities.
Maddison (86.75% pass completion rate from 56.9 passes per 90) outshone both Eze and Kulusevski in both metrics, but that was to be expected, largely because Spurs saw a far higher possession share (54.8%) and Palace (42.4%) in the Premier League last season. Frank, whose Brentford side’s possession haul (47.7%) sat between the pair, is expected to implement a slightly different approach to Postecoglou in the coming campaign, especially if interest in City’s wing-wizard Savinho is anything to go by, yet Eze’s ability to pick out a teammate with ease relative to Palace’s possession means he should quash any possible concerns over his distribution.
That Spurs cooled their interest in Eze earlier in the summer came close to coming back to haunt the north London side, especially as there was a general consensus he would move to Arsenal, the team he left at 13 years of age. A second chance at a player is rare in the modern game, such is the speed with which deals can be completed.
Now seemingly the frontrunners for the Palace star once more, the stats reinforce the reasoning behind Spurs’ return for Eze. A creator is of the utmost importance now with Maddison a long-term absentee and Kulusevski sidelined for the foreseeable future and while Spurs need to negotiate a fee with Palace for the player, Eze’s performances in a Palace shirt back up the idea that he’ll slot in seamlessly behind the striker in Frank’s favoured 4-2-3-1 setup.