EXCL: Chelsea & other PL clubs eyeing "fantastic" Ethan Nwaneri after surprise transfer U-turn by Arsenal | OneFootball

Chelsea are understood to be on alert for the possible transfer of Arsenal attacking midfielder Ethan Nwaneri as his situation at the Emirates Stadium as changed.

The highly-rated 19-year-old was not initially loaned out to Marseille to be put in the shop window, but Arsenal could now be open to letting him go for the right price this summer, as first reported here for the Daily Briefing.

Chelsea are one of the clubs with a long term appreciation of Nwaneri, and they could revisit this deal if he does indeed end up moving on from Arsenal at the end of this campaign.

For now, it’s not clear that Nwaneri himself is pushing to leave, but there may perhaps be concerns with his development after murmurings of attitude problems at Marseille training.

What sources are saying about Ethan Nwaneri transfer

As well as Chelsea, sources have named Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, and AC Milan as clubs keeping an eye on Nwaneri’s situation, while at least three other Premier League teams are also monitoring developments.

Meanwhile, Arsenal could be tempted to cash in on Nwaneri for around £35-40m, with the sale to count as ‘pure profit’ from a PSR perspective due to the fact that the England Under-21 international came up through the Gunners’ academy.

“Nwaneri is struggling right now and that means Arsenal are going to have to consider a sale,” one source said. “Things can change quickly, but he clearly isn’t progressing as expected, and they’ll feel they can get a decent fee for him.

Could Ethan Nwaneri be the right signing for Chelsea?

Chelsea haven’t got a lot right in the transfer market in recent times, but their policy of recruiting top young players has occasionally gone well for them.

Joao Pedro has been a big hit since joining from Brighton, while Cole Palmer was in a similar situation at Manchester City to Nwaneri’s at Arsenal now when he moved to Stamford Bridge.

Using our Transfer Fit rating system, we score Nwaneri to Chelsea 16/25 – a promising young player in a position they need, who wouldn’t cost a fortune, but who also isn’t in the best form right now.

Arsenal might be wary of selling a top prospect like Nwaneri to a rival, but it currently seems unlikely that he’s going to become a key first-team player in Mikel Arteta’s squad.

These two London rivals have also done business plenty of times before, with big names like Kai Havertz, Jorginho, Noni Madueke, and Kepa Arrizabalaga all moving from Chelsea to Arsenal in the last few years.