Arsenal are ready to firm up their interest in Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans this month and are confident of finalising a deal, sources have told 90min.
The Gunners have already held talks with the player’s representatives and, as revealed by 90min last month, Leicester have accepted that the player’s future lies away from King Power Stadium.
The 26-year-old is out of contract in 2023 and has rejected a number of offers from Leicester to extend his stay, and manager Brendan Rodgers is now ready to move on from Tielemans - who has been with the club since 2019 when he joined from Monaco on an initial loan deal.
A number of clubs have expressed an interest in signing Tielemans, but 90min understands that Arsenal are now firm favourites to clinch his signature.
Listen now to 90min's brand new podcast, Talking Transfers, with Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth. This week Harry Symeou steps in for Scott and the trio discuss the futures of Bukayo Saka, Rafael Leao, Romelu Lukaku, Kalvin Phillips, Youri Tielemans, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Raphinha, Gabriel Jesus and more.
Indeed, sources close to the club have confirmed to 90min that the Belgian is interested in moving to the Emirates Stadium and there's belief at Arsenal that a deal will be done - with a successful outcome in the coming month the hope.
The only stumbling block is the size of the fee Arsenal will pay to Leicester, with the two clubs currently apart in their valuation of Tielemans. Mikel Arteta's side are hoping to pay less than £25m but the Foxes would ideally like to receive closer to £30m.
Tielemans is still commanding interest from elsewhere, both in the Premier League and from abroad, but at this stage it's Arsenal who are in pole position to wrap up a summer transfer.
Source : 90min