HERE WE GO: Arsenal’s €95million bid has been accepted as the superstar is set to complete the Gunners move today
After completing the signing of Viktor Gyokeres, Arsenal will reportedly ‘move swiftly’ for Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze, with the potential £68million transfer ‘not contingent on player sales’.
Arsenal are finally set to sign a striker, with Gyokeres having landed in London for his medical after a £64million agreement with Sporting CP.
The Gunners have been crying out for an out-and-out centre-forward over the last three seasons and will surely benefit from signing such a prolific player.
Gyokeres will be Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta’s sixth summer signing after Noni Madueke, Cristhian Mosquera, Martin Zubimendi, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Christian Norgaard.
Signing number seven could be Crystal Palace and England attacker Eze, and a report from The Independent says Arsenal don’t need to sell to fund a deal.
Indeed, transfer journalist Miguel Delaney says the Gunners have ‘ramped up’ their bid to sign Eze, whose ‘first choice’ is Palace’s London rivals.
The aim for the Premier League title hopefuls is to ‘swiftly move to secure’ the 27-year-old once Gyokeres is through the door.
Gyokeres has ‘landed in London’ for his medical, which means sporting director Berta can ‘turn his attention to other targets’.
Eze’s camp are ‘confident a deal will be done in the next few weeks’ and Arsenal ‘hope to agree a fee that comes to £60m’, though there is a £68m release clause in the player’s contract.
Any agreement that isn’t his release clause will have to be ‘on terms that are also amenable to Palace’ and it’s previously been reported that the Gunners hoped to constuct a deal ‘split into three instalments of £20m’.
Arsenal and the Eagles aren’t in ‘formal contact’ yet but the two clubs have ‘good relations’ and ‘both will be flexible’ in negotiations.
Arteta’s side’s ‘preference’ is to sell a player before they buy Eze, however, ‘the signing is not contingent on that’.
Interestingly, the report adds that winger Reiss Nelson ‘could be included in any deal’ with a swap deal mooted.
Arsenal sold Eddie Nketiah to their London rivals last summer for £30m and sent Rob Holding to Selhurst Park for £3.5m in the 2023 summer window – six months after loaning out Sambi Lokonga.
