After talking to the club in person, Eddie Nketiah, a striker, has given Crystal Palace the go-ahead to sign him. The club and Nketiah are now in advanced talks about him moving to Arsenal, TEAMtalk can confirm.
It was said that Nketiah and Olympique Marseille had agreed to a deal earlier in the window to move to Ligue 1, but the deal fell through because Marseille couldn’t pay Arsenal’s asking price.
Nketiah has agreed to personal terms with Marseille, but he really wants to stay in the Premier League, and more specifically, he wants to stay in London.
Crystal Palace wants to sign Nketiah because they think he could be a key player for them. They have offered him a tempting salary deal that will make him one of the top earners at Selhurst Park. From what we know, a deal has been reached on personal terms.
At the time, Crystal Palace only had three players who make as much as or more than Nketiah’s £100k-per-week deal at Arsenal. These are Eberechi Eze, Dean Henderson, and newly signed Daichi Kamada, who is said to make £ 105,000 per week, and Nketiah.
When it comes to wages, Nketiah is in the bottom half of Arsenal’s first-team workers. The club’s wages are almost three times higher than Chelsea’s.
Arsenal wants £30 million for their youth graduate, which has caused a lot of interest in moves to France and Nottingham Forest.
But Palace has made an offer worth about £25 million plus £5 million in add-ons, and Arsenal is likely to accept it.
Being ready to accept a good sell-on clause in the deal is important for getting Arsenal to agree to the deal. We can report that the Eagles are okay with Arsenal adding such a clause to the deal.
It doesn’t look like Arsenal is too worried about Nketiah’s possible move; the club is willing to listen to offers for the player but isn’t in a hurry to let him go.
The Gunners were ready to sell their best young players from the academy. Emile Smith Rowe moved to Fulham for £34 million (£27 million plus £7 million in add-ons) this window.
“Pure profit” is what a club’s balance sheet calls the money it makes from selling its stars.