During the summer transfer window, London’s top teams Arsenal and Chelsea are headed for disaster.

And in the center of that tug-of-war is Sporting CP defender Ousmane Diomande, who is being heralded as the next Virgil van Dijk. That comes after the Portuguese newspaper Record said that the Gunners have equaled Chelsea’s initial bid for the youthful center defender.

The Blues first made a proposal of €60 million (£51 million) plus bonuses for Diomande, 20, as they look to bolster their defense this summer. Though it’s also believed that Bayern Munich and Newcastle are expressing interest, Mikel Arteta’s team has already matched that offer.

Those teams are still a long way from reaching the rumored €80 million (£69 million) release clause found in Diomande’s Sporting agreement. Ruben Amorim’s team might, however, potentially land that sum given the intense interest in their star even months before the transfer market opens.

If Diomande does really move again this summer, it seems almost a certain that the Lisbon giants will earn handsomely from their stud. Just last year, the prospect moved to Portugal from Danish team Midtjylland. Prior to that, he had played the 2022–2023 season on loan at Portuguese second-tier team Mafra.

Sporting spent just €7.5m (£6.4m) to recruit the player, and his contract at the Estadio Jose Alvalade doesn’t expire until the summer of 2027. Liverpool have also been touted as a possible destination, with the Reds reportedly viewing Diomande as a long-term successor to Van Dijk (and Joel Matip is also approaching the exit ramp of his career).