Practically every major European team are planning on bolstering their midfield ranks in the summer transfer window. Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool are each hoping to acquire at least two new recruits in the middle of the park, while Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona are all working hard to improve their first-team engine room choices with a marquee midfield addition.
To put it lightly several midfielders will be on the move this summer. In terms of Premier League departures, Declan Rice, Mason Mount, Granit Xhaka, Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister are just a few players expected to leave their respective clubs this summer.
With Arsenal looking to sign two new central midfielders, every player mentioned above, of course minus Xhaka, has been linked with Arsenal. football.london understands that Rice is the priority, while Caicedo was the recipient of two January offers from north London, both of which were rejected.
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Despite claims Arsenal were clear favourites for Rice, the race for the West Ham captain remains open with Bayern Munich also showing a keen interest. However, the battle for Chelsea's Mount could be considered the opposite very soon with Manchester United firmly placed as the front-runners for his signature with personal terms having been agreed.
Negotiations over a transfer fee still must take place and that is where the problems may arise. The Blues value Mount at £70million and are unlikely to budge from that asking price, although with the summer window not even open yet there is ample time for discussions to take place.
If any potential issues are ironed out, that will likely be one name crossed off Arsenal's midfield short list. Regardless of Mount, Rice and Caicedo were likely considered as the two favoured options with both as the most expensive choices as well.
Positionally, Caicedo and Rice can be considered as holding midfielders which could make signing both largely futile, on top of the significant funds Arsenal would have to part ways with to sign both. Whereas Mount, as an advanced midfielder, would have been the perfect option to take Xhaha's spot in the team with his transfer to Bayer Leverkusen all but confirmed.
There is one other option, though, and it may not fill many with excitement but realistically it would still be an extremely smart transfer. On Wednesday, Youri Tielemans confirmed what everyone knew was happening in late 2022 by announcing he will be a free agent this summer now he has reached the end of his his Leicester City contract.
According to Fabrizio Romano, no club has agreed anything with Tielemans yet, but Arsenal could change that. The Belgian midfielder looked primed for an Emirates Stadium switch in the upcoming summer window, but football.london reported at the start of 2022 that interest from Arsenal had cooled with the Gunners focusing their primary efforts on Rice.
That initial interest from Arsenal in Tielemans may have lessened over the last few months but at the end of the day it's a free transfer for a proven Premier League player. Arteta wants creativity in that eight-role but also defensive discipline and the 26-year-old has proven he has both in abundance.
The 2022/23 season was a tough one for Leicester and Tielemans personally, no one is disputing that, but not having to pay a single penny in transfer fees, especially when compared to Mount's £70million asking price, for a player with 195 Premier League appearances with 28 goals and 26 assists, appears an absolute no-brainer.
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