Arsenal have received a much-needed transfer boost in their pursuit of Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham this summer, with the Blues lowering their lofty £40million valuation.
Abraham, 23, has had a lot of interest from fellow Premier League clubs with the Gunners most recently joining the queue for the Englishman's signature.
West Ham, Aston Villa and Leicester City have also shown a key interest in the 23-year-old, but it's currently the north Londoners who are leading the race for the Blues striker.
In order to complete this transfer, Edu and co. need to raise funds by selling one of either Alexandre Lacazette or Eddie Nketiah with the latter looking most likely at this current moment.
But the Gunners hierarchy have been given a helping hand by the west London club in helping finalise Abraham's move across London this summer to the Emirates Stadium.
The Sun have reported that the Blues are preparing to imminently slash their asking price from £40m to a reported £35m.
A £5m difference, which could be the key factor in convincing Edu to stump up the cash required to complete this deal.
However, regardless of whether Arsenal can afford this deal or not, Chelsea still need to bring in a replacement striker as our Chelsea correspondent Adam Newson clarified with Arsenal writer Chris Wheatley recently.
'It will largely depend on whether Chelsea can bring in another forward. I can’t see the club letting Abraham go if a big signing isn’t completed, especially as Olivier Giroud has already departed. There is, of course, the matter of another club meeting Chelsea’s asking price for the 23-year-old which currently stands in excess of £30million.'
With the Blues looking no closer to finding the replacement after struggling to tempt Borussia Dortmund to sell Erling Haaland, it could still take some time yet until we see substantial progress made on the deal to bring the 23-year-old to north London this summer.
A potential transfer which has been backed by former Crystal Palace midfielder Darren Ambrose, who has urged Abraham to seek a move away to become the main focal point of a new team.
“Thomas Tuchel is not a fan of Tammy Abraham,” he said to talkSPORT. “Again, I think talking about taking a slight step back to go forwards; I think Tammy has to do that.
“I think there will be takers, for sure, for £40m and I think he has been okay at Chelsea. He hasn’t had the opportunities he wanted under Thomas Tuchel.
“But that happens sometimes with managers and some players; sometimes you don’t get these opportunities when you can bring in players.
“I think to trial Havertz as a false nine as opposed to putting Tammy in…I think he will know that it is probably right to go.
“Try and become a main man somewhere and see where that takes him.”
Chelsea's current number nine, despite falling out of favour under Thomas Tuchel, scored a total of 12 goals in all competitions last season for the west Londoners, demonstrating his clinical ability in front of goal.
He averaged a rating of 6.70 according to WhoScored.com.
'He’s a goalscorer, plain and simple,' Newson informed Wheatley. 'If chances are fashioned inside the penalty area then there is a good chance that Abraham will be within the width of the six-yard box ready to finish.
'His hold-up play has improved a lot over the past 18 months too, which is something he doesn’t truly get enough credit for.'
