Arsenal sizing up £97m double deal that would remedy title-costing issue and see Rice, Caicedo both ignored

Arsenal are scouting two players from the same side who can be signed for a combined £97m due to release clauses in their respective contracts, per a trusted source.

The Gunners remain firmly in the hunt to lift their first Premier League title since 2004. However, back-to-back 2-2 draws have seen Arsenal surrender sole control of the league’s fate.

Arsenal were lucky escape Anfield with a point after Liverpool missed a penalty and Ibrahima Konate failed to bundle home what would’ve been an injury-time winner.

A rapid-fire two-goal lead was then taken the following week against West Ham. However, Arsenal could not keep the door closed at the back and would again return home with just one point.

Arsenal have not kept a clean sheet in the four matches William Saliba has missed since picking up a back injury against Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League.

Rob Holding has deputised in the position, though is clearly not the defensive presence Saliba is. Even more worrying for Gunners fans is Arteta’s latest update on Saliba where he confirmed the Frenchman is not progressing in his rehabilitation as quickly as was hoped.

Arsenal moved to sign high level back-up for Gabriel Magalhaes in the left centre-back position in the form of Jakub Kiwior in January.

Doing the same on Saliba’s side would make sense, especially with a Champions League campaign on the horizon next term.

As such, Fabrizio Romano has confirmed Arsenal are scouting Real Sociedad centre-half, Robin Le Normand. However, he’s not the only Sociedad player in their sights.

£97m Sociedad pair being watched by Arsenal

“Arsenal sent their scouts to follow both [Martin] Zubimendi and Le Normand this year as they’re doing excellent with Sociedad, but nothing is concrete yet,” Romano told Caught Offside.

“The Gunners’ plans on new signings will be made in the next weeks, nothing is advanced yet.

“The price for Le Normand is the release clause: €50m.”

Le Normand, 26, is known to Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard through his own time at Sociedad between 2019-20. Per the Sun, Odegaard is pushing Arteta to bring Le Normand to north London too.

The release clause lets Arsenal know where they stand, while the Sun added Sociedad missing out on next season’s UCL could embolden Le Normand to accept a move. Sociedad currently sit fourth in LaLiga, though are being chased by Real Betis and Villarreal.

Zubimendi, meanwhile, operates primarily in the engine room and links to Arsenal are nothing new.

The 24-year-old’s current deal contains a slightly higher release clause than Le Normand’s – €60m. As such, the pair can be plucked from Spain for around  €110m (£97m) combined.

In the event Arsenal were to activate Zubimendi’s release clause, it stands to reason they’ll have no reason to act on their interest in Declan Rice or Moises Caicedo.

Rice is likely to cost far more than Zubimendi with figures of at least £80m touted. Brighton have already shown they’ll play hardball for Caicedo after rejecting multiple huge offers from Chelsea and Arsenal in January.

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