Arsenal star compared to Lionel Messi agrees lucrative move to London rivals: report

Arsenal have recently taken advantage of signing players from London rivals. Now, they're going to lose a star to another capital club.

The Gunners signed the likes of Declan Rice from West Ham United and Kai Havertz from Chelsea 12 months ago, but this summer, there's a focus on selling as much as there is buying. Reports suggest Mikel Arteta's squad needs trimming, with as many as nine first-team players heading for the exit door.

Now, the wheels are in motion over one deal from Arsenal to another London club. The player in question has not long committed himself to the Gunners, either.

TEAMtalk is reporting that Reiss Nelson has agreed to move to West Ham. The Irons look to have beaten Crystal Palace to his signature.

Nelson earned his debut in Arsene Wenger's final season and was hailed as one of the most exciting prospects to ever blossom from the club's Hale End academy. The winger went on loan at Hoffenheim and Feyenoord to further his education, too, playing under the likes of Julian Nagelsmann and Arne Slot, respectively, before returning home to London Colney to feature for Arteta in his first season.

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The 24-year-old was extremely highly-rated during his footballing education, too. Nagelsmann said that his potential was on a level with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi , while Arteta has always kept faith in the player, bringing him on in 2023's home match against Bournemouth to score an iconic winner.

“Crystal Palace are still in contact with him and are hoping they can spring a hijack, but sources have confirmed to TEAMtalk that West Ham are in the driving seat and pushing to get a deal completed by the end of this week,” the report states. Palace are in the market for a wide option following the departure of Michael Olise.

Though a fee is yet to be agreed, however, the departure of Nelson could well be very lucrative for Arsenal. As an academy product who only signed a new contract extension last summer, any incoming fee for the attacker can be registered as ‘pure profit’ that the Gunners don't have to amortise: meaning that they can put the entirety of the transfer money paid for Nelson in this year's accounts and not spread it across his West Ham contract.

What's more, Arsenal paid out a lot to the Hammers for Declan Rice last summer. They may well have an upper hand in negotiating to charge a little more, as a result. FourFourTwo understands the move may be around £20-25 million, making it Arsenal's biggest sale of the summer thus far.

In FourFourTwo's opinion, this is a good move for the north Londoners and for Nelson. He started just once in the Premier League all season and wasn't even included in the squad towards the back end of the campaign when Arteta had a fully fit group to choose from – so a solid fee for such a fringe star is good business from the Gunners.

Nelson is worth €15m, as per Transfermarkt . His contract runs until 2027.

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