Eberechi Eze: Why Arsenal will not lose sleep over Tottenham transfer as 'verbal agreement' reached with Crystal Palace

Arsenal should not live to regret not making a serious play for Tottenham Hotspur-bound Eberechi Eze thanks to their existing options in the creative midfield role, a former Gunners FA Cup winner believes.

On Tuesday, there was reportedly a major breakthrough in talks between Spurs and Crystal Palace over a deal for Eze, and the Lilywhites have now reached a verbal agreement to sign the England international from their London rivals.

Spurs initially backed off Eze earlier in the summer, but Arsenal did not formalise their interest in their former academy product, and Tottenham quickly reignited their pursuit after losing James Maddison to a serious ACL injury and Son Heung-min to Los Angeles FC.

However, Arsenal have all of Martin Odegaard, Ethan Nwaneri - who has just signed a new long-term contract - and 15-year-old Max Dowman, one of the stars of pre-season, capable of pulling the strings in the most advanced midfield position.

As a result, ex-Gunners attacker Jermaine Pennant believes that while Eze would have been a brilliant signing, he cannot see Arsenal losing sleep over his decision to join Spurs, telling Sports Mole: “I think everyone would like to have Eberechi Eze.

Arsenal would take Eze's "best attribute" away as Tottenham transfer edges closer

"He's an absolute quality player. I think he will fit in anyone's team. So, yes, of course, you'd say you would need him. But are you going to miss him? Probably not.

"Because you've got some young, absolutely fantastic talent coming off the bench with Dowman and Nwaneri. And if you asked to get him now, whose position does he take?

“His best position is number 10, he doesn't really play on the left. He can do, but then you're taking someone's best attribute away and putting him on the left. What's the point in that? To get the best out of him, you want him in at number 10.

“And at the moment, that's Odegaard. It’s nice to think of getting him, but I don't think you actually need him.”

Eze will depart Palace having come up with 40 goals and 28 assists in 169 appearances for the Eagles across all competitions, and he made his final appearance for the club in Sunday's 0-0 draw with Chelsea, where he had a venomous free kick controversially ruled out.

Eze to join Spurs: Will Arsenal make any signings before transfer deadline?

While Arsenal's admiration for Eze is well-documented, the only way they would have been able to reunite with their one-time Hale End starlet would have been via a significant sale, of which there is nothing in the pipeline.

So far this summer, the Gunners have only raised a little over £10m through player exits, offloading Nuno Tavares to Lazio for a little over £7.5m and selling Brazilian winger Marquinhos to Cruzeiro in a £3m deal.

Thomas Partey, Jorginho and Takehiro Tomiyasu have left on free transfers, meanwhile, but more will almost certainly head elsewhere before the window shuts, including most of those who were left out of the squad for Sunday's 1-0 win over Manchester United.

Fabio Vieira, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Reiss Nelson, Karl Hein, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jakub Kiwior could all be sold to bring some money in, but it may be too little too late to reinvest those funds into any more new signings.

Real Madrid's Rodrygo may now be regarded as the likeliest to arrive, but as Noni Madueke has predominantly played off the left during his early days as an Arsenal player, it is difficult to envisage the Gunners going all out for the Brazilian's signature as well.

That sentiment has been echoes by one of the Arsenal Invincibles, who has also told Sports Mole that he does not expect Arsenal to make any more signings this summer.