Leicester are not interested in any of the players that Arsenal have offered as part of a potential James Maddison transfer, Pete O'Rourke reports.
What's the latest news involving James Maddison?
Arsenal are keen to sign the Leicester City midfielder, with the Guardian reporting that the player is open to a move to the North London club.
Foxes manager Brendan Rodgers has recently claimed that the Foxes don't need to sell any of their big name players, however, so it appears the Gunners may need to offer a lot of money to sign Maddison.
What has Pete O'Rourke said about Maddison?
Transfer expert O'Rourke reckons that Maddison is Arsenal's number one transfer target for the attacking midfield role, now that Martin Odegaard is expected to stay at Real Madrid.
"James Maddison is their number one target to be this creative focal point they want in the team. I think they’ve now moved on from Martin Odegaard. I think he’s going to stay at Real Madrid and get minutes there," he said whilst appearing on The Football Terrace.
O'Rourke revealed that the Gunners have offered Leicester some players as part of a potential deal to sign Maddison, but they are not interested in any of the names suggested by Arsenal.
"We all know it’s going to be a high price tag to get James Maddison, so Arsenal have tried to be a bit creative like a lot of teams have had to be in this transfer window, offering players in part exchange for this one.
"But from what I’m hearing so far, the players that Arsenal have offered to Leicester in this deal hasn’t raised the interest of anybody at Leicester.
"I think the likes of Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, have all been mentioned as possible makeweights in the deal plus money, to try and convince them to sell Maddison," O'Rourke concluded.
Check out what O'Rourke said in full about Arsenal's attempts to sign Maddison in the video below...
Why would Arsenal let Nelson, Nketiah and Maitland-Niles leave?
Arsenal are likely willing to let the three players leave as they have been unable to consistently start for the first-team. Nelson made just 9 appearances for the Gunners last season, starting only five games.
Nketiah, whose contract expires next summer, made 29 appearances for Arsenal last season, but he was in the starting line-up on just 14 occasions. Maitland-Niles, whose contract expires in 2023, spent the second-half of last season on loan at West Brom.
Maitland-Niles made 36 appearances in total last season, but 15 were for Albion, and he was limited to 13 starts for Arsenal.
What could it take to get a Maddison deal done?
Arsenal might have to spend big in order to sign Maddison. Football.London recently reported that Leicester have put a £60m price tag on the 24-year-old. The Gunners may have to offer Leicester the money they want and not make any more players plus cash offers to get a deal over the line.
£60m is a lot of money, but the Gunners aren't afraid to spend this summer - they recently paid Brighton £50m for Ben White.
They may have to pay £10m more to sign Maddison, but if Mikel Arteta feels that the Leicester man will be a focal point of the team, then Arsenal should match what the Foxes want.