Arsenal will pay an upfront fee of £48.5million for Noni Maduekeafter Chelsea granted him permission to leave their United States camp from the Club World Cup. The deal in total will come to £52million.
There has been a lot of question marks over the dealand Arsenal were keen to ensure that what they paid was below the going rate for attacking players in the Premier League market.
Deals for the likes of Joao Pedro, Anthony Elanga, Mohammed Kudus and Morgan Gibbs-White are set to be signed, or have signed, for more than what the Gunners are paying. Sources suggest this is considered a well-negotiated price as a result.
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It is believed to be a unified push from the club rather than Mikel Arteta necessarily being the driving force behind the move. Andrea Berta has been leading the club’s strategy of recruitment this summer, and only when those making the calls are in unison will the club make a proactive move for a player.
The club are far from done in this case too, and are engaging in further talks with Sporting CP for Viktor Gyokeres and are looking to formalise their interest on a club-to-club basis for Eberechi Eze. The club hope to conclude major business early, with the Premier League kicking off in just over a month's time.
Ideally, Arteta would want his new centre-forward to be on the plane going to Asia on July 19, and football.london understands the club are working with that schedule in mind.
Gyokeres did not appear for Sporting's pre-season training on Friday, and is not expected to on Saturday either despite being scheduled to as talks between the clubs aim to find a solution.
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