Revealed: How Tottenham helped Arsenal secure Piero Hincapie transfer

The North London rivalry has taken another dramatic twist off the pitch, with Arsenal poised to land Ecuadorian defender Piero Hincapie as their first summer 2026 signing—thanks, in part, to the very club they love to beat. Transfer authority Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that the 23-year-old centre-back will move permanently from Bayer Leverkusen to the Emirates after the Gunners triggered a €52 million buy-option clause embedded in last August’s initial loan agreement.

Romano reports that the paperwork is already complete, tying Hincapie to Arsenal on a five-year deal and handing Leverkusen both the guaranteed fee and a 10 per cent sell-on clause. Yet the most eye-catching detail is how Tottenham’s own pursuit of the player accelerated Arsenal’s move. Spurs were prepared to pay immediately for Hincapie in the 2025 window, but Arsenal’s guarantee of a permanent transfer—structured along the same lines as David Raya’s switch from Brentford—proved decisive for the German champions.

By offering certainty of a future sale rather than a straight loan, Arsenal beat their neighbours to the signature and removed Tottenham from the race before negotiations could advance. The manoeuvre mirrors last summer’s hijack of another Spurs target, Eberechi Eze, underlining a growing pattern of Arsenal outmanoeuvring their rivals in the market as well as on the field.

With Hincapie’s switch now set in stone, the Lilywhites’ hesitation has handed Mikel Arteta a key defensive reinforcement—and given Arsenal supporters fresh bragging rights in the endless North London tug-of-war.