Arsenal are pushing to seal a £60million deal for Kai Havertz, as they bid to wrap up moves for both the Chelsea forward and West Ham captain Declan Rice.
The Gunners want to get their transfer business done early this summer and talks over Havertz are accelerating after they had an opening bid worth £50m turned down last week.
Chelsea want £70m for Havertz but Arsenal hope to strike a deal for a lower fee and are optimistic that an agreement can be reached.
Havertz is keen on a move to Arsenal and personal terms are not expected to be an issue.
Live blog: Follow all the latest transfer news and gossip
Chelsea need to sell players to help balance the books and reduce the size of their squad and are in a race to offload unwanted stars before June 30, so the sales can be included in their financial accounts for 2022-23.
Arsenal hope that pressure will force Chelsea to soften their stance over their valuation of Havertz.
Havertz has struggled at Chelsea since his £71m move from Bayer Leverkusen in 2020 and has mainly been used as a centre-forward at Stamford Bridge.
But he joined Chelsea as an attacking midfielder and manager Mikel Arteta is confident that he can unlock his potential at Arsenal.
