Chelsea will be firm favourites to sign youngster Ethan Nwaneri if he leaves Arsenal, according to reports.
Nwaneri, who’s still only 15, is a young prospect developing in Arsenal’s academy.
The teenager has already made a first-team debut in the Premier League this season, but he’s still at the very early stages of his football journey.
According to The Telegraph this week, Chelsea and Manchester City have set sights on Nwaneri amid fears from Arsenal that they could lose their young talent.
There is fresh speculation that points towards a potential move to Stamford Bridge, too.
Journalist Graeme Bailey has added that Arsenal are struggling in attempts to get Nwaneri to sign a new deal with them.
It is understood that Chelsea are actually “firm favourites” to sign the attacking midfielder if he ends up moving.
“Yeah, Ethan Nwaneri. Basically Arsenal are struggling to tie him down,” Bailey told the Talking Transfers podcast.
“There is interest from around. What I’m hearing is he’ll like to stay in London which means, probably not Tottenham, but Chelsea are keen, they like to sign young players. Arsenal are struggling to tie him down and Chelsea like him a lot, if he does leave it does look like Chelsea are firm favourites here.”
Described as “very special” by Granit Xhaka, Nwaneri is already the youngest player to ever play in the Premier League.
He’s developing his game at academy level with regular minutes for Arsenal’s youth teams, but it’s quite telling that he’s already had first-team exposure at the Emirates Stadium.
The speculation suggests a move from the red side of London to the blue side of London is a possible path for Nwaneri. If he does this, he would be following in the recent footsteps of Omari Hutchinson.
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