Date: 10th June 2022 at 9:30pm
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Fabrizio Romano has provided a major update regarding Arsenal’s pursuits of Leicester City’s Youri Tielemans and Brighton and Hove Albion’s Yves Bissouma…

THE LOWDOWN: MIDFIELD TARGETS

The Gunners may well have missed out on Champions League football on the last day of the Premier League campaign, but boss Mikel Arteta will not allow that to deter him from securing his top targets this summer, and both midfield talents are on the club’s radar.

The Sun reported bac in May that the Belgian maestro was likely to join Arsenal in a possible £40m deal during the summer transfer window.

According Spanish outlet Fichajes, the Gunners are locked in transfer battle with Premier League rivals Manchester United and Italian Serie A champions AC Milan to secure Bissouma’s signature.

The Malian international has been discussed as a potential target for multiple clubs over the past 12 months including Arsenal. But according to Romano, the trail has gone cold with the former LOSC Lille star.

THE LATEST: TIELEMANS PRIORITY

Writing in his column for Caught Offside, Fabrizio Romano has provided an update on the race to sign Yves Bissouma this summer.

He said: “There was much talk about Yves Bissouma a few months ago, but it’s gone a little quiet recently, and it seems a move to Aston Villa is now not happening.

“Still, his agent has had conversations with many top clubs in recent times, but so far Brighton want to wait for a sale: the price for Bissouma has always been close to €40m/€45m.”

“Arsenal have been following him for months but the priority is to understand if they can complete the Youri Tielemans deal, while Manchester United have yet to decide who will be the final priority target of the midfield. As I’ve written before, it could be more likely that they pursue Frenkie de Jong, but there are challenges with that deal.”

THE VERDICT: SIGN BOTH

This must be a hard decision for Edu and the higher-ups at Arsenal to make.

Both Tielemans and Bissouma are incredibly talented players, and choosing between them is no easy task so we suggest that the Gunners should indeed sign both players to strengthen their midfield quality this summer.

Granit Xhaka, whose Emirates future has been uncertain recently, Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny and Albert-Sambi Lokonga remain Arteta’s only midfield options for next season, and adding both the Belgian maestro and the Malian workhorse would be crucial to their cause next season, and a real statement of intent.

The Belgian registered six goals and three assists in the Premier League for 2021/22 and has implemented consistency into Rodgers’ side ever since his permanent move from Monaco in the summer of 2019 – having contributed at least nine goal returns in his last three full seasons for the Foxes.

The £49.5m-rated midfielder could offer a lot to Arsenal with his composure in the opponent’s defensive third, enabling the Gunners to build sustained attacks, with the Belgian averaging 19.17 touches in the attacking third per 90 and maintaining a shot-creating actions average of 2.97 per 90.

While Bissouma, rated at £31.5m by Transfermarkt, earned an impressive 7.07 Sofascore rating last term whilst winning 5.6 duels and making 1.9 interceptions and 1.8 clearances on average per game, demonstrating a particular competency in the defensive facets of a midfielder’s weaponry.

Pairing them both in the Arsenal midfield could well be a tantalizing prospect for both the Gunners faithful and Arteta.

AND in other news, £9m-rated Arsenal benchwarmer could leave the Emirates, as Benfica line-up £8.5m move…

 

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