Chelsea have agreed a £117million fee with Aston Villa for Morgan Rogers, who will undergo a medical on Monday.
The versatile attacking midfielder, who is currently with the England squad at the World Cup, was expected to leave Villa summer, with Arsenal making him their top transfer priority this summer.
But Standard Sport understands it is Chelsea who the player has picked. The Blues have been long-time admirers of Rogers, and have acted quickly and efficiently to deny the Gunners.
The deal will set a new transfer record for an English player, eclipsing the £116m fee Manchester City agreed to pay for Elliot Anderson earlier this summer.
Rogers will also become Chelsea’s record signing, which is currently the £107m spent on Enzo Fernandez, which also came after a World Cup.
Rogers is expected to sign a six-year deal, with the Blues holding the option for a further 12 months.
The 23-year-old is a versatile No10 who can also play down both flanks - as he did for England against Argentina in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final defeat.
The forward’s future was always expect to gather pace once England’s World Cup campaign came to an end.
The Three Lions face France in the third-place play-off on Saturday evening in Miami, Florida, before the squad fly home to London.
Rogers scored 14 goals and provided 12 assists in 55 appearances across all competitions last term, earning UEFA’s Europa League Player of the Season award after both scoring and assisting in May’s 3-0 final win over Freiburg in Istanbul.
The deal represents a huge profit for Villa on Rogers, who was signed two years ago from Middlesbrough for around £8m.
It is also the second time Arsenal have seen a key transfer target pick a rival club over them, after Manchester City hijacked their deal for Jeremy Monga.
The Gunners, though, have reached an agreement to sign Club Brugge winger Christos Tzolis.
Standard Sport understands a deal worth around £33.8million is close to being finalised for the 24-year-old as the north Londoners move to replace Leandro Trossard, who joined Besiktas for £15.3m earlier this week.
