Arsenal target Morgan Rogers is valued at a British record £130m by Aston Villa.
Rogers is at the World Cup with England, but is being chased by Arsenal and is also attracting interest from Chelsea.
Villa do not want to sell Rogers and believe he is worth more than his England team-mate Elliot Anderson, who agreed a move from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City for £116m.
It is understood that Villa believe Rogers is worth £130m, which is £5m more than the British record £125m Liverpool paid Newcastle United for Alexander Isak last summer.
Villa’s valuation also factors in the fact that Middlesbrough hold a 20 per cent sell-on clause on Rogers, who they sold in a deal worth £15m in the 2024 winter transfer window.
It remains to be seen whether Arsenal or Chelsea would be prepared meet the £130m valuation, or whether Villa could be negotiated down.
Rogers made his first World Cup start for England in the Group L victory against Panama and has won 18 caps for his country – six more than Anderson.
Unlike Anderson, Rogers has also played in the Champions League for Villa and won a European trophy. On the way to Europa League success last season, he scored 14 goals in all competitions.
Telegraph Sport reported that Premier League clubs fear Anderson’s move will inflate the English market and some sources believe that has already started.
Rogers is preparing for England’s first knockout stage game of the World Cup against the Democratic Republic of Congo.
And Thomas Tuchel, the head coach, has been charting the penalties of his England players as they prepare for the possibility of shoot-outs.
England face DR Congo in a last-32 tie in Atlanta on Wednesday, with the threat of shoot-outs hanging over teams that cannot be separated after extra time.
Tuchel is believed to have privately warned his players that they might have to get through two shoot-outs to win the World Cup after studying previous tournaments and England’s potential opposition.
England have been practising penalties and conducted a mock shoot-out after the behind-closed-doors friendly victory over Miami FC before the start of the tournament.
Tuchel is understood to have been charting the success rate of his players from the spot.
England have a number of penalty takers. Aside from first-choice Harry Kane, Tuchel can pick from Anthony Gordon, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney, Jude Bellingham, Eberechi Eze and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford for a shoot-out.
Pickford and Toney, along with Eze, who missed a penalty for Arsenal in the Champions League final shoot-out defeat by Paris St-Germain, have all confirmed they would be willing to take a spot kick at the World Cup.
Reece James, the Chelsea captain, is another player who could take a penalty, although the right-back has been nursing a hamstring problem.
James missed the final Group L game against Panama and is a major doubt for the last-32 tie against DR Congo. But James is optimistic that he can still play for England at the World Cup and a return in time for an appearance in the last 16 has not been ruled out.
Tuchel left some accomplished penalty takers back home after not selecting Cole Palmer and Morgan Gibbs-White in his 26-man squad. Harry Maguire, who was also excluded, has also been successful from the spot in the past for England.