Brighton are ready to spend £20million to land Arsenal starlet Eddie Nketiah, according to reports.
The Gunners shelled out £50m to the Seagulls earlier this window, as they landed top defensive target Ben White.
But a significant portion of that fee could be heading back to north London, with Graham Potter earmarking the 22-year-old as his preferred striking option.
Nketiah has just one year remaining on his Arsenal contract and rejected the club’s latest offer of an extension.
That means in all likelihood, he will be allowed to leave the Emirates whilst they are still able to get a fee.
The Sun claim that Brighton are hoping to sign Nketiah for around £20m as Potter looks to solve his side’s goalscoring woes.
Mikel Arteta gave the youngster 17 appearances in the Premier League last term, scoring two goals.
Speaking earlier this year, Arteta admitted that Nketiah failing to get regular minutes was hampering his development.
“He needs to play and we’ve been wanting to use him a little bit more on some occasions and we didn’t,” he explained.
"To be fair, when he’s played, he’s played well, but at his age and for what he’s done the last two or three seasons, he needs more minutes.
"It’s something we have to talk about openly and make the right decision."
Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe and Folarin Balogun appear to be ahead of Nketiah in the Gunners pecking order, with Arteta conceding that it hurt to leave him out as often as he has done.
He added: "Well, when we’re talking about management, this is one of the hazards to leave someone like Eddie out of the squad, but at the moment everybody has been fit and we have so many options upfront.
"But it hurts as well because of how Eddie behaves and trains every day and because he’s a player from our academy, but he will have his chance.
"He needs to be patient and he’s showing no signs of lacking attitude or anything like that, it’s the complete opposite.
"He’s a joy to work with and he deserves minutes and if he doesn’t get it, it’s just my fault."
Brighton’s rivals Crystal Palace are also interested in the forward, but Patrick Vieira is reluctant to spend £20m on the player and are aware an auction could drive up that price beyond that.
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