Arsenal’s stockpile of No.10s could give north London rivals Tottenham the edge in the battle to sign Eberechi Eze.
After a relatively quiet summer, Tottenham expect to spend big in the final weeks of the transfer window with Crystal Palace ace Eze now one of their top targets.
Arsenal have been tracking Eze all summer, but are yet to make a formal bid.
One of the main factors in that is they, like Spurs, see Eze’s best position as playing off a lone striker.
Arsenal already have captain Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz in that role, while 18-year-old Ethan Nwaneri has also been promised minutes after penning a new contract.
Eze can also play on the left but Arsenal remain over-subscribed that area with Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard.
Eze has a £68million release clause in his Palace contract, originally believed to expire two weeks ago, but is still active until Friday.
Hammers talks to sign Championship star
West Ham have opened talks with Southampton over Mateus Fernandes, talkSPORT understands.
Fernandes caught the eye of a number of Premier League clubs last season despite Saints’ dismal campaign, which saw them only narrowly avoid setting a new record low points tally.
West Ham have been tracking the Portuguese all summer and have now formalised their interest.
However, Saints have already showed they drive a hard bargain by rejecting Everton’s £45m offer for Tyler Dibling.
The south coast are likely to demand in excess of £30m for Fernandes, who is also admired by Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim.
Liverpool ace staying put
It’s been a summer of change at Liverpool with big-money new signings and big-name arrivals.
One player who has no plans to up sticks is midfielder Wataru Endo despite interest from clubs in Germany including Frankfurt.
The Japanese international is likely to have to settle for another season of being a squad player at Anfield.
But sources close to the 32-year-old insist he and his family are settled on Merseyside.
Manager Arne Slot also wants to keep Endo, partly due to his versatility and ability to play in defence as well as the middle of the park.
Endo came off the bench in Sunday’s Community Shield final against Crystal Palace, playing 19 minutes of the Reds’ penalty shoot-out defeat at Wembley.
Big-spending Chelsea put off Guehi chase
Crystal Palace’s £40m valuation of Marc Guehi is deterring Chelsea from making a move to re-sign the England international.
Chelsea have been left short-handed at the back by Levi Colwill’s ACL injury.
The Blues are believed to have considered bringing Guehi back to Stamford Bridge, but at the moment Palace’s asking price is deemed too high.
Instead Renato Veiga, who was expected to join Juventus, may be held back to provide extra cover for the injured Colwill.
Guehi is also admired by Liverpool, although talkSPORT understands Newcastle are NOT currently inclined to revive their interest from last summer.
The England international is out of contract at the end of the season when he can leave on a free and is likely to have his pick of clubs not just in England but overseas.
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