According to the latest reports, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is pushing to sign Youri Tielemans as the main midfield signing. It is no secret that despite missing out on Champions League football next season, Arsenal are in the market for an overhaul of their squad. The club is looking for different options to boost their midfield and attack.
Arsenal are looking for a midfielder to partner Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard in the middle. Albert Sambi Lokonga is young, while Granit Xhaka is inconsistent in his performances. Mohamed Elneny did have a stretch of good games towards the end of the season and signed a one-year contract extension.
However, Arteta knows he cannot achieve the high targets set for next season without an experienced midfield signing. Thus, the board is on the lookout for a midfielder suitable for the club’s young squad and have identified Tielemans as one of the primary targets.
According to The Telegraph, Mikel Arteta is urging the Arsenal board to sign Youri Tielemans from Leicester City. He is pushing for the club to submit an initial £25 million bid for the midfielder. The Belgian midfielder was open to a move to the Emirates Stadium, although he hoped that the club would play in the Champions League. The report clarified that the player is still keen to sign for the Gunners, as he wants a change of pasture before the new season.
🚨 Youri Tielemans is now open to playing in the Europa league and Arsenal are set to make an opening offer of around £25m.
Leicester may demand a price of over £30m but his Foxes contract runs out in 2023.
(Source: @JPercyTelegraph) pic.twitter.com/rqjQImQ3jn
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) May 23, 2022
Youri Tielemans first arrived at the King Power Stadium on a loan deal in January 2019 from Monaco. Leicester then signed him permanently in the summer, for a club-record fee of around £32 million. Since then, the 25-year-old has appeared in 158 games for the Foxes and has 24 goals and 24 assists (stats via transfermarkt). In 32 Premier League games this season, he has 6 goals and 4 assists. The former Anderlecht skipper also has 49 caps with the Belgian national team and has 4 goals as well.
Tielemans’ underline statistics prove his importance to Brendan Rodgers’ side. His (all per 90 statistics) Pass Completion Percentage is 82.3%, with a Progressive Distance of Completed Passes of 262.2. The Belgian’s Expected Goals Assisted is 0.17, while his Progressive Passes is 5.62 (stats via fbref). Because of these statistics, Leicester are desperate to hold on to him, with his contract running out in 2023. However, talks over a new contract got stalled last year itself.
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The Belgian’s playing style as a box-to-box midfielder has caught the eyes of Arteta. He hopes to sign him and play him alongside Partey and Odegaard in a 3-man midfield. However, it would not be an easy task for Arsenal to sign Youri Tielemans given other clubs’ interest.
Earlier, Liverpool and Manchester United were keeping an eye on the midfielder. However, those leads have gone cold since then. The Gunners could face main competition from North London rivals Tottenham, as Antonio Conte seems interested in the player.
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