Arsenal made a last-minute change to their Eberechi Eze plans just before playing Leeds on Saturday

Add as preferred source on Google

Saturday was one of the great days at the Emirates for Arsenal.

Indeed, not only did the Gunners beat Leeds United 5-0 on Saturday afternoon, they also announced a new signing on the pitch after the game.

Eberechi Eze was announced as an Arsenal player on Saturday and he was presented to his new fanbase just before the game.

This was an incredible moment, but, according to Charles Watts, it was very touch and go as to whether or not Eberechi Eze could be unveiled in this way.

Indeed, speaking on Inside Arsenal, Watts shared the story of how this announcement came to be, and he says that it was only decided an hour before kick off that Eze would be unveiled in this way.

Arsenal made late change to Eberechi Eze plans

According to Watts, it was an all hands on deck situation on Saturday as Arsenal looked to finalise the Eberechi Eze deal and announce him on the pitch.

The journalist says the final decision on this was made just 75 minutes before kick-off on Saturday as Arsenal finally got the green light to announce Eze on the pitch.

“I was in the pub for a long time before the game on Saturday I went up there early for the Man City Spurs game.

“So, I was up there from like 12:30 onwards and the amount of people in the pub who were coming up to me and saying, “Is he going to be unveiled before the game? Are we going to do this?” And I didn’t know,

“I’d put some messages out and I was trying to find out. And from what I understand, literally people did not know this was going to happen for sure until probably about sort of 4:15 was when the green light came through of this is happening. Everything had been put in place.

“They wanted to do this and I know they wanted to do that. You know Mikel, he would have known what that would have done for the atmosphere. So, he would have been pushing for it as well.

“Lots of people at Arsenal were working. And they were all like legging it around it, going mad, trying to get it done, but they did not know until so close before the sort of 5:00 thing that they were going to get it done. And the green light came through and they could do it.”

Famous Premier League signing presentations

The art of an on-pitch announcement has been somewhat lost in recent years, it must be said.

Indeed, in the age of social media, signing announcements, more often than not, are simply done online, but, there have been some famous examples of players being announced in this way before, or even during, games in the past.

Of course, some of these signings worked out better than others, but regardless of which deals worked out, these on-field announcements are a great way to build excitement amongst fans as well as