Arsenal have agreed a deal worth up to £67.5 million for Eberechi Eze and look poised to sensationally hijack Tottenham’s move for the England forward.
It is understood that Mikel Arteta’s side made an approach to Crystal Palace over Eze after Kai Havertz sustained a knee injury during Arsenal’s win against Manchester United on Sunday. Arsenal are continuing to assess the injury but fear that the German forward could be absent for an extended period, even if the early indications are that it is not extremely serious.
But the uncertainty prompted Arsenal to accelerate their interest in Eze, with sources indicating that they have remained in constant contact with the 27‑year‑old’s representatives all summer.
Tottenham had looked in pole position to sign him after stepping up their interest over the weekend and are believed to have agreed a deal worth close to his release clause of £68 million, which expired last week.
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Yet with Arteta keen to add to his attacking reinforcements as they attempt to become champions for the first time since 2004, it is understood that the sporting director, Andrea Berta, and vice-chairman, Tim Lewis, contacted Palace on Wednesday to gazump their north London rivals.
Eze, who has made no secret of his desire to test himself at the highest level by playing for a club in the Champions League, has indicated he would prefer to join the club that released him at the age of 13 rather than their north London rivals.
Arsenal are believed to have agreed a deal with the Palace chair, Steve Parish, in which they will pay a large chunk of the initial £60 million fee up front, with another £7.5 million in bonuses. QPR, from whom Palace signed him in 2020 for £19.5 million, are due a 15 per cent sell-on fee of any profit they make.
It is understood that Eze will play for Palace in the first leg of Crystal Palace’s Conference League playoff on Thursday and have an opportunity to bid farewell to the supporters after scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup final in May. He is then expected to complete his medical and become Arsenal’s seventh summer signing.
Oliver Glasner, the Palace manager, praised Eze’s attitude as speculation has mounted over his future, with doubts over whether he would feature against Chelsea in their opening Premier League game when he had a free‑kick disallowed by the video assistant referee. “I’m still disappointed that this goal was disallowed and he will show a great performance tomorrow,” Glasner said.
Havertz, who played 31 minutes as a substitute at Old Trafford on Sunday, did not take part in an open training session at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday morning. His absence would leave Arteta with the new signing Viktor Gyökeres as the only available recognised striker in his squad, with Gabriel Jesus not expected to return from a knee injury in the near future. Mikel Merino filled in when Havertz missed 18 matches last season after sustaining a hamstring injury in February, and the Spain midfielder scored seven goals from then until May. Arteta expressed his desire that Havertz could play alongside Gyökeres in preseason.
“Kai can play in different positions, as well,” he said. “I think it elevates the quality in the squad, the goal threat that we have in the team, the options that we have to change and provide oppositions with a lot of problems.”
Arsenal have already spent almost £200 million this summer and are still hoping to move on a number of fringe players before the end of the transfer window. Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko both have interest from Porto, with Italian clubs having also been linked to the Poland defender.
Kiwior is understood to prefer to move overseas despite interest from other Premier League clubs after he deputised for the injured Gabriel Magalhães last season. Arsenal are in talks with Stuttgart over a move for Fábio Vieira, while Reiss Nelson could rejoin Fulham after spending last season on loan in west London. Eze’s potential arrival could also mean they step up attempts to sell Leandro Trossard. – Guardian
