Arsenal’s sensational hijacking of Tottenham’s deal for Eberechi Eze will go down in Gunners folklore as one of their most celebrated transfer coups in recent memory.

In one fell swoop, Gunners sporting director Andrea Berta rounded off his already-impressive debut window by both breaking the hearts of their rivals and securing a proven Premier League number 10 overnight.

Spurs were on the verge of signing Eze, after reaching an agreement in principle with Palace and agreeing personal terms with the 27-year-old himself.

However, Kai Havertz’s injury then pushed the north Londoners into stealing Eze from under Thomas Frank’s nose.

After laying plenty of groundwork and being heavily linked for most of the summer, Arsenal moved in for the England international and matched Tottenham’s bid – leaving the final decision down to Eze.

A boyhood Arsenal fan and former academy player, the choice was simple – a return to N5.

Reports earlier this month suggested that Eze’s ‘first preference’ between the clubs was always Arsenal, so when Mikel Arteta’s side made their intentions known, the former QPR star promptly took the bait.

The playmaker, who bagged 14 goals and 11 assists in all competitions for Palace last season, is undergoing a medical ahead of a £67.5 million move back to Arsenal.

Tottenham will be kicking themselves for not triggering Eze’s £68 million release clause when they had the chance, with the buy-out expiring on August 15. Daniel Levy’s famously hard-ball negotiating tactics have seemingly come back to bite the Lilywhites chairman, and Arsenal have reaped all the rewards.

Palace's "unusual" Tottenham demand which sparked Eberechi Eze hijack fear

Shedding more light on one of the stories of the transfer window, journalist Graeme Bailey has shared an intriguing bit of background on the blockbuster deal.

According to the reporter, speaking to TBR Football, Tottenham felt something wasn’t quite right when Palace made an ‘unusual’ demand, which seemingly sparked fears of a potential Arsenal hijack.

Palace initially planned for Eze to feature in their 1-0 Conference League play-off win against Fredrikstad on Thursday night, but the player didn’t end up taking part after all.

His switch to Arsenal is now imminent, and an announcement is expected in due course.