Arsenal still have Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans on their radar, transfer insider Dean Jones has informed GiveMeSport.
The 25-year-old was heavily linked with a move to the Emirates in the last window and is now into the final six months of his contract.
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Arsenal transfer news - Youri Tielemans
Jones recently told GMS that interest in Tielemans from Newcastle United could force Arsenal to make a bid for the Belgian this month.
According to football.london, the Gunners wanted to wait until the player's contract expired at the end of the season so that they could sign him on a free transfer. However, Newcastle making him a target now looks like it could complicate things for them.
It would be a bit of a blow for Mikel Arteta if Tielemans ended up anywhere other than the Emirates.
Last May, The Telegraph claimed that Arteta was pushing Arsenal to sign the Leicester star. Right now, the Spaniard is also thought to be very keen on Shakhtar Donetsk's Mykhailo Mudryk.
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What has Dean Jones said about Youri Tielemans and Arsenal?
According to AS, World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister is another midfielder Arsenal have interest in. However, Jones says Tielemans remains a target for the north London club.
Speaking to GMS, the journalist said: "I think that they are still concerned about lacking a certain profile of player within their squad, and that is one of the reasons that these players [Mac Allister and Tielemans] continue to be linked and why Tielemans is still on the radar."
Read more: January Transfer Window 2023: Rumours and Everything You Need To Know
Who are Arsenal more likely to sign, Youri Tielemans or Alexis Mac Allister?
Tielemans. Signing the Belgium international now or in the summer will be a much easier task than landing Mac Allister.
The latter's stock is incredibly high at the moment following his role in Argentina's World Cup win, while Brighton, understandably, seem very reluctant to sell.
"All we can do in situations where you’ve got a great asset is to try and protect yourself as best as possible," their CEO Paul Barber recently told talkSPORT.
"We’ve done that with several of our players and staff over the last several years, and that’s all you can do in these situations. We hope Alexis will continue to be playing for us for some time to come.”
In regards to Tielemans, who was described as a "special player" by former Leicester captain Wes Morgan on Match of the Day (via HITC) last year, it will be interesting to see if Arsenal do eventually make a move for him.
With Leicester paying £40m for the former AS Monaco man, as reported by The Guardian, getting him for half of that or for free would be incredible business.
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