Mikel Arteta warned that his Arsenal side would remain “open” to further additions just as reports of increased interest in Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze bubble away.
The Gunners started the summer relatively slowly compared to some of their Premier League rivals, namely Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City. Yet, the Gunners have now taken their total spend to north of £195 million ($262 million) following the costly acquisition of Viktor Gyökeres.
Arsenal are rapidly closing in on their record spend for a single summer—Declan Rice’s arrival accounted for almost half of the £205 million ($276 million) splashed in 2022—and could very well surpass that figure in the coming weeks with a move for Eze.
The immensely talented playmaker is thought to be open to a move this summer. Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich have also been credited with interest in Eze, who supposedly favours a move to the Emirates. The Independent claim that admiration is mutual and report that Arsenal are “ramping up” their efforts to sign the 27-year-old.
Eze’s Palace contract reportedly contains a £68 million ($91.4 million) release clause which Arsenal are trying to negotiate down to £60 million ($80.6 million). The report claims that Reiss Nelson could be included in negotiations to sweeten the deal, though Fulham are thought to be pushing to sign Arsenal’s English winger.
After overseeing a 3–2 pre-season friendly victory over Newcastle United on Sunday, the prospect of more business was put to Arteta. “Let’s see,” he coyly told assembled journalists. “The market is still going on and we’ll have to balance that out with the squad as well. I think we’ll be open to see what happens.”
Gyökeres was unveiled to the crowd in Singapore’s National Stadium to mass hysteria. Arteta revealed that response was shared by the Arsenal squad. “We are super happy to have Viktor with us, it’s been a long journey to get him over here.
“He’s been incredible, he was very clear from the beginning where he wanted to play and how passionate I felt from him from day one when we first spoke. You can see the boys, you can see the environment as well, very excited with his arrival.”
Before a deal for Eze is done, Arsenal fans are still waiting to see Gyökeres kick a ball for the club. “Well I think he hasn’t had a single training session with the team since the last game with Sporting when they became champions,” Arteta warned.
“So we will assess him tomorrow. He’s done all the medicals, everything is looking good but to get him up to speed with the right levels of fitness I think is very important. So we’re not going to stop him, we want him with us as quick as possible but we’ll have to assess and the medical team will do that.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mikel Arteta Drops Transfer Tease Amid Eberechi Eze ‘Development’.