Arsenal in pole position to sign “special” £68m star

A new season will soon dawn, and for Arsenal, it’s the same objective: challenge for and win the Premier League.

Having finished second for three successive campaigns, Mikel Arteta knows that this year is a big one, with the Gunners in desperate need of crowning this resurgent era with silverware.

But it’s coming together, no doubt. Bukayo Saka is fully fit once again after an injury-hit 2024/25 season; Viktor Gyokeres has signed for £63.5m to end the interminable search for a focal striker.

But a first-class left-sided forward could still be added to complete the set. Not since the days of Alexis Sanchez have Arsenal had a world-class weapon on that wing.

But it’s beginning to look like such a signing could be on the cards.

Arsenal lining up new winger

Many names have been bandied about this summer, but Arsenal are reaching a point in their transfer window in which the fog will start to clear and Arteta’s final market plans will crystallise.

Fabrizio Romano claimed at the weekend that, with Gyokeres now part of the crew, the Londoners are “working on outgoings as priority” before addressing the left flank, which could do with a new part.

But when they are ready to pounce, it looks like Arsenal have lined up Eberechi Eze as their new man.

According to Caught Offside, the Gunners should be wary of rising interest from Manchester’s biggest clubs for the Three Lions star, though it’s stressed that Arsenal remain firm favourites after their sustained efforts over the past weeks.

Previous reports have revealed that Arsenal have seen an opening bid partially accepted. To be more specific, a fixed £30m fee has been agreed between the clubs, though the structure of the remainder of Eze’s £68m release clause remains unsettled.

Why Arsenal should sign Eberechi Eze

There are many reasons why Eze would be a fantastic addition to Arteta’s Arsenal squad.

The 27-year-old, first and foremost, is an electric and versatile attacking midfielder, having gone from strength to strength across his five years at Selhurst Park, culminating his journey with the winning goal in last season’s FA Cup final against Manchester City.

Eze’s 25-goal contribution campaign underscores his ability to provide more than just a showreel style of play. He’s increasingly potent in the final third, capable of scoring goals himself and focusing on his creativity to aid the likes of Gyokeres.

As per FBref, he ranked among the top 6% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe’s top five leagues last year for shots taken, the top 11% for shot-creating actions and the top 10% for successful take-ons per 90.

He’s quite the exciting player, all right, praised for his “special” talents by BBC Sports’ Phil McNulty.

In fact, Eze could prove to bring a bit of flair and gusto to this Arsenal side in a way that would bear a likeness to that man Sanchez, who scored 80 goals and supplied 44 assists across 166 games for the Gunners, way back when.

Obviously, Eze isn’t as good as the 36-year-old was when in his Premier League prime. It wouldn’t be a bad take to claim that he was the best player in England at the height of his success at the Emirates.

Sanchez really was on another level in his Arsenal heyday, wasn’t he? Eze, obviously, isn’t at that level, but he shares many attributes with the thrill-seeking Chilean, and it’s something Arteta could use to shape him into a world-beater at the present day.

Bear in mind, furthermore, that we’re contrasting Sanchez’s finest season in the Premier League against Eze’s latest with Crystal Palace. It wouldn’t be brazen to suggest that Eze’s most fruitful days lie in front of him, should he sign for Arsenal this summer.

Thus, it’s rather exciting to see how complete, tenacious, talented the England international is at this stage of his career, refined and built into the elite player he is, but still open to taking the next step and reaching the pinnacle.

Similarities can be traced from here to Sanchez, who established himself as a high-class forward at Barcelona but lingered in the shadow of one of football’s greatest-ever frontlines: MSN.

At Arsenal, he bloomed into an iconic frontman, hailed by Arsene Wenger as being a truly “exceptional footballer“.

He wasn’t a spring chicken when he first arrived in the English capital. The South American chose Arsenal despite the vested interest of Liverpool, penned a deal worth £35m in July 2014. He was 25 at the time.

Given that the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United are interested in Eze right now, it seems Arsenal may be primed to pull off another statement signing, reeling in a player who has his heart set on north London red.

Eze is in his prime, and he’s got a taste for trophies that could be used to spearhead this project further, up and up past these years of fighting for honours and onto the biggest, grandest stage there is: winning the Premier League, sealing the Champions League, and then defending these prizes which the talented squad so desperately desire.

Given the quality of the current Arsenal attacking crop, it feels crucial that Arteta and Berta come together to get this one wrapped up.

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