The England player is in a fight between the Big Six teams because he helped set up 15 goals in 27 Premier League games last season.
Eze scored 11 goals and set up four others, which helped Palace finish in a tie for the best position in the Premier League and earn the joint-highest number of points in the club's history.
It would always be hard for head coach Oliver Glasner to keep the whole team together. He couldn't even stop Eze's dangerous partner, Michael Olise, from moving to Bayern Munich for £50 million.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eze are both still at the club ahead of Sunday's Premier League start against Fulham, though the Eagles may have just gotten a massive boost in their hopes of keeping Eze.
The Daily Mail says that Eze's release option, worth £60m plus £8m in performance-related add-ons, expired on Thursday evening. This gives the Palace more power in the negotiations.
Man City and Tottenham are still thought to want to sign the 26-year-old this summer, but the Eagles could now ask for more than the sure £60m and possible £68m that they would have had to pay before.
The player used to play for Queens Park Rangers, but Palace doesn't have to sell him right away because he signed a new deal in November that keeps him there for another three years.
Since signing Crystal Palace in 2020, the England international has played in 124 games, scored 26 goals, and set up 17 others. He also played three times for England at Euro 2024.
Why do Manchester City and Tottenham want Eze?
Averaging three successful take-ons per game over the past year, Eze has a good eye for goal and likes to beat his man. He could fill a few holes in Pep Guardiola and Ange Postecoglou's systems.
Oscar Bobb will be out for a few months with a terrible leg fracture for the defending Premier League winners. Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva's futures are still in the air.
Both men should stay at Manchester City past the end of the summer transfer window. However, De Bruyne is now 33 and seven years older than Eze, so the Palace player could be signed as a natural replacement for the Belgian.
Spurs captain Son Heung-min's deal ends in the summer of 2025, but he has a one-year extension built into it, so Eze could play a similar role at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Tottenham should use that choice to keep Son longer, but what will happen with the South Korean after 2026 needs to be clarified. Eze would be a tremendous left-back replacement.
The 26-year-old player prefers that side, but Tottenham already has a flexible winger on the team—Wilson Odobert, who they signed from Burnley in a surprise £25m deal this summer.
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