Arsenal ramp up plans for superb summer signing No 7 as double swap proposal tempts rivals

Arsenal are stepping up their plans to bring Eberechi Eze to Emirates Stadium after two players were named as makeweights to offer to Crystal Palace as part of a swap deal, while the England star’s thoughts on a move to north London have also come to light.

The Gunners have finished second in the last three Premier League campaigns and had to watch on last season as a host of their rivals and London neighbours all picked up silverware, while Arteta and Co finished trophyless for a fifth successive campaign. But amid a heavy summer of spending and strengthening, Arsenal hope they will soon have the players in place to go one step further in their quest for major honours.

Having already brought in Martin Zubimendi, Kepa and Christian Norgaard, the Gunners are now gearing up for their busiest week of the summer window with three players set to sign on the dotted line.

And with a fee finally agreed with Sporting CP for star striker Viktor Gyokeres, the Swede looks set to join both Noni Madueke and Cristhian Mosquera, who arrived in London on Monday ahead of a medical on Tuesday, as new Arsenal players.

Despite those arrivals set to take their spending through the £200m (€230m, $268m) mark, they are not done yet, and journalist Ben Jacobs, writing on X, has revealed their next main focus is ‘finding an attacking midfielder’.

Arsenal are already in talks for Eze and are ready to accelerate the move by making a new ‘formal approach’ to Palace.

Now, according to a TransferFeed, the Gunners are looking to sweeten the deal for Palace by offering the Eagles their choice of two players as part of the deal in an attempt to bring down the fee, with Eze’s exit clause set at £68m (€78m, $91m).

And the two players on offer to the FA Cup winners are Fabio Vieira and Reiss Nelson, two players rated by Arteta, but who have both fallen down the pecking order in recent times.

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Eberechi Eze’s thoughts on making move to Arsenal

Per the report, sporting director Andrea Berta has ‘initiated contact with Fabio Vieira and his agent to assess his interest in potentially transferring to Crystal Palace’, while Nelson is also being ‘considered as a possible candidate to be part of the exchange’ for the 27-year-old.

Vieira is also understood to be interesting Nottingham Forest as they consider a replacement for Morgan Gibbs-White, who is due to move to Tottenham Hotspur in a £60m deal once the Tricky Trees’ decision to contest the move is overcome.

And the connection with former Arsenal sporting director Edu, who is now working to improve Nuno Espirito Santo’s squad at the City Ground could yet swing the move in their favour.

Whether Palace accept the opportunity to sign either player, though, remains to be seen.

However, Eze’s desire to make the move, coupled with the exit clause that exists in his contract, makes it unlikely he will still be an Eagles player by the time the new season rolls around.

Stating the 27-year-old’s desire to push through the move, journalist Pete O’Rourke told Football Insider: “It seems like Arsenal are really going for it in the summer transfer window. The key for them here is that Eze is very much interested in a move to Arsenal from Palace.

“This is his opportunity to play Champions League football, play at the highest level, and be competing for honours regularly. He had a taste of that last season with Crystal Palace when he scored the winning goal in the FA Cup final against Manchester City.

“Eze obviously is a confident player, he feels he can go to Arsenal and make an impact there. It would be a big blow for Crystal Palace to see him leave, but if Arsenal were to get him it’s about where he’s going to fit into that team.

“Does he play wide left, or does he fit into the number ten role where he’s had success with Palace. Talks are ongoing between the two clubs, Palace will demand that they get that full release clause, but they won’t be able to get it all up front.

“Arsenal won’t be able to splash out £68million straight away as well as signing Madueke and Gyokeres, that might be too much for FFP and PSR. They want to knock down the up-front payment a bit and pay the rest in instalments.”

Arsenal transfer latest: Bayern to move for Arsenal attacker; Barca star wanted

On the subject of Gyokeres, the striker’s agents were in London on Monday as they looked to push through the final details of the Sporting striker’s move to Arsenal, with the full details of the move now coming to light.

Of course, the Gunners will likely need to offload a few stars this summer to help balance the books and now the first high-profile name of their summer spree has been named, with Bayern Munich ready to secure a somewhat surprise swoop, according to reports.

Elsewhere, while Eze’s signing will likely mark the end of their summer spending, Arsenal are also said to be keen on a Barcelona star whose price has been slashed to half of what the Spanish giants initially wanted for him.

Eberechi Eze could be the difference-maker for Arsenal