Crystal Palace and Arsenal are almost done making a deal for Eddie Nketiah to join the team.
The north London club is likely to accept a bid from Palace for £25 million plus an extra £5 million.
On a personal level, there shouldn’t be any problems.
According to The Athletic on Sunday, Palace were thinking about signing Nketiah after talking to Arsenal earlier this summer about the 25-year-old.
That news came soon after Nottingham Forest stopped trying to sign Nketiah. Even though Forest and Arsenal agreed on a fee of up to £30m ($39.6m), the forward chose not to make the move.
Marseille tried earlier in the window to sign the England player but couldn’t find a price that worked for both sides.
Nketiah signed a new deal with Arsenal in June 2022, just before he was set to become a free agent. The deal he has now lasts until 2027.
Nketiah has played in pre-season games but has not yet played in a game this season. Both of his team’s Premier League games—a 2-0 win at home over Wolverhampton Wanderers and a 2-0 win at Aston Villa—he didn’t play as a replacement.
Gabriel Jesus, another Arsenal forward, will get a scan to see how bad his “slight” groin injury is that kept him out of the game.
Palace has lost both of its opening games. On Saturday, they lost 2-0 to West Ham United at Selhurst Park. Before that, they lost 2-1 to Brentford away from home.
Oliver Glasner has put Jean-Philippe Mateta up front in both of those games. The Frenchman is coming into this season after having a great season in 2023–24, when he scored 19 goals in 39 games.
Jordan Ayew moved to Leicester City last week on a permanent deal, leaving Odsonne Edouard as Palace’s other main scorer. Glasner has said in the past that he wants to add more players before the trade deadline on Friday.
The next game for Palace is on Tuesday, when Norwich City comes to town for the second round of the Carabao Cup.