Premier League leaders Arsenal are reportedly unsure whether to launch the offensive to sign long-term target Youri Tielemans from Leicester City in January.
Arsenal have reservations about signing Youri Tielemans from Leicester City ahead of the January transfer window. That’s according to football journalist Dean Jones, who told Give Me Sport that Mikel Arteta and the Gunners recruitment team are not fully convinced about signing the Belgium international.
Arsenal are looking to have a busy winter window as the board prepares to build on their superb start to the season. A winger is high on Arteta’s wish list, with Shakhtar Donetsk star Mykhaylo Mudryk the top target. However, the midfield is another area that is known for its lack of depth and needs strengthening, with a host of options linked in the last year or so.
Youri Tielemans, for one, has been linked with a move to Arsenal for some time. The Belgian’s contract with Leicester City expires at the end of the season, and he is unlikely to sign an extension.
He can speak to overseas clubs from January onwards to negotiate a pre-contract agreement ahead of a Bosman transfer in the summer. Arsenal are thought to be the dream team he would like to join in either January or next summer.
However, Arsenal have yet to turn their interest in the 25-year-old into a formal offer. The north London giants are looking to bring in another midfielder to provide cover for injury-prone Thomas Partey and have the funds to make a signing. But while the Premier League leaders have Tielemans on their shortlist, they have reservations about the player, as per Dean Jones.
One of the reasons why the Gunners are having second thoughts about Tielemans is that he is a different type of player than Partey. Both are all-action midfielders, but the Ghanaian is more involved in gritty defensive work and makes an incredible number of defensive actions in his disruptor role despite plying his trade in a possession-heavy team.
To that end, Brazilian destroyer Danilo would suit the role better than Tielemans. The Gunners are ramping up their efforts to sign the South American sensation after a successful campaign with Palmeiras, while Mohamed Elneny and Albert Sambi-Lakonga remain viable options in the squad. If anything, Tielemans’s stylistic profile matches that of Granit Xhaka, who has been in splendid form this season.
Even if Arsenal are looking for Xhaka’s backup, recent rumours of a potential move for Mohammed Kudus and Hakan Calhanoglu will only damage Tielemans’s prospects of moving to the Emirates.
But the Belgian playmaker will not have a shortage of suitors pursuing him, particularly now that clubs can get him for a cut-price fee in the January transfer window. Widespread reports have linked the contract rebel with Newcastle United, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and even Liverpool involved in the race to secure his services.
So even if the 25-year-old does not get his desired move to Arsenal, he will have plenty of options to pick from in the upcoming January transfer window. It will be interesting to see if the playmaker remains in the Premier League or joins a foreign club.
