Arsenal have set their sights on landing Eberechi Eze to cap off a busy summer of transfer business – but there is one potential snag in the club’s pursuit of the Crystal Palace star.
The Gunners’ hierarchy may well be breathing a sigh of relief having finally got a deal over the line for Sporting striker Viktor Gyokeres, which, at one stage, appeared on the verge of collapse.
The prolific Swede has now joined up with his new team-mates on their pre-season tour of Asia and could even be in line to make his debut on Thursday when Mikel Arteta’s men take on bitter rivals Tottenham in Hong Kong.
He became Arsenal’s sixth signing of the window, following Kepa Arrizabalaga, Christian Norgaard, Cristhian Mosquera, Noni Madueke and Martin Zubimendi through the doors at the Emirates.
But attentions have quickly turned to a possible seventh first-team addition, namely Palace and England attacking midfielder Eze, who racked up eight goals and eight assists in the Premier League last season.
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According to The Athletic, Arsenal bosses retain a strong interest in Eze and the player himself would be ‘keen’ to push through a switch north of the river this summer.
However, there are some doubts and reservations over paying Eze’s hefty £68million release clause at Selhurst Park and Arsenal may only be prepared to proceed if Palace slash their price for the 27-year-old.
The report adds that any potential sales at the Emirates could, naturally, aid Arsenal’s move for Eze, with the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Fabio Vieira, and Karl Hein all deemed surplus to requirements.
It’s claimed one of Leandro Trossard or Gabriel Martinelli could also be offloaded should Arsenal be bring in another high-quality winger to fill the void.
Eze’s current contract with Palace runs through to June 2027.
The England international has been with the Eagles for six seasons having joined the club from QPR for a fee in the region of £17m in 2020.
In that time, Eze has found the net 39 times in all competitions for the south London outfit, with the most memorable goal of that number coming in the side’s famous FA Cup victory over Manchester City in May.
Eze had been in Arsenal’s academy ranks as a youngster, but was released at the age of 13, going on to join Fulham, Reading and Millwall before winding up at Loftus Road.
Once the transfer window closed last summer, Palace chairman Steve Parish said he was ‘astounded’ that there wasn’t more interest in ‘outstanding footballer’ Eze.
‘I was really worried from a club point of view of losing Michael [Olise] and Ebbs in the same window and we didn’t have in Ebbs the interest that I thought we would have,’ Paris told Sky Sports.
‘I was astounded, genuinely astounded. I mean, the guy’s just an outstanding footballer, an outstanding person.’
After wrapping up the signing of Gyokeres, Arteta refused to rule out the possibility that Arsenal could further strengthen before the transfer deadline.
‘Let’s see. The market is still going on and we’ll have to balance out the squad as well,’ the Arsenal head coach told reporters.
‘I think we’ll be open to see what happens.’
Arteta is more than satisfied with the business that Arsenal have managed to complete thus far and believes sporting director, Andrea Berta, has been ‘absolutely fantastic’ in the market.
The Spaniard added: ‘We can’t talk about how the processes work, but it’s a decision that we take between all of us, especially with ownership, then the board, then Andrea and the scouting department, and also myself and we were very clear on the talent that we identified in the window.
‘But actually to deliver it is something very, very different and I think the club has done incredibly well, Andrea and his team, they’ve been absolutely fantastic.
‘So I mean so early in the window, we already have the reinforcements that we wanted.’
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