Arsenal

Arsenal

Premier League • England

Transfer Gossip: Arsenal to launch ‘final’ push for Premier League star destined for big transfer; Leeds go after Europa League ace

Youri Tielemans and Wilfried Zaha

Arsenal are preparing a ‘final attempt’ to sign a highly rated Premier League player in January, Leeds have begun targeting a Europa League full-back, while Tuesday’s Transfer Gossip claims a Liverpool-linked midfielder is set to join Bayern Munich.

GUNNERS TO PUSH HARD FOR YOURI TIELEMANS

Arsenal are ready to launch a ‘final’ move for Leicester City and Belgium midfielder Youri Tielemans this winter, according to a report.

Tielemans has long been on Arsenal’s radar, as he is one of the best available players on the market to improve their midfield options.

With the Leicester man coming towards the end of his contract, Arsenal were tipped to bid for him in the summer transfer window.

They focused on improving other positions though and due to this Tielemans remained at the King Power for the start of the 2022-23 campaign.

But that could be about to change. According to the Daily Mirror, Mikel Arteta’s side are close to making a ‘final attempt’ for Tielemans.

As he will become a free agent next summer, he can speak with interested European clubs about a transfer from January 1.

Arsenal want to prevent this from happening though and will try to reach an agreement with both the 25-year-old and Leicester as soon as the winter window opens. Leicester are said to be ‘braced’ for Arsenal’s last Tielemans attempt.

Youri Tielemans transfer value falls

The star has previously been valued at £50million by the Foxes. But with his contract nearing on expiry, Leicester will have to settle for far less when selling him. Reports suggest Tielemans could move to the Emirates for as little as £20-25m.

While trying to organise a fee with Leicester, Arsenal will also begin negotiations with Tielemans and his agent to sort out a contract.

This should be relatively easy to finalise, for two reasons. The first is that the 58-cap international is keen to join a bigger club than Leicester, and one which is playing Champions League football too.

Arsenal fit into the first bracket, while they are also in a strong position to make the top four this season. And they could even go all the way and win the Premier League title – which would make Tielemans even more keen to join.

Secondly, Arsenal are in a better financial situation than Leicester and can offer Tielemans better wages.

At Leicester, he reportedly earns £120,000 a week. But Arsenal would be able to push him towards the £150k-a-week mark, or even higher if they view him as becoming an integral first-team player.

Arteta can already select Granit Xhaka, Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny or Albert Sambi Lokonga in his midfield. But Tielemans should go straight into the starting eleven if he joins the Gunners. This is because he is better than Elneny and Lokonga, while Partey is injury prone.

Tielemans’ future is yet to be finalised, but it looks like he will be making the switch from Leicester to Arsenal next month.

LEEDS PLOT EREDIVISIE SWOOP

Leeds are preparing to mobilise and swoop in for PSV left-back Philipp Max, according to a report.

Max is enjoying a good season, having made 22 appearances across all competitions and helped PSV finish second in their Europa League group. They will play Sevilla in the knockout round play-offs.

Max was linked with Leeds in the summer, during their search for a new left-back. The Whites have yet to capture someone in the position and it seems they are back on Max’s trail.

As per Football Insider, Leeds like the look of the 29-year-old and could move for him as early as January.

They believe Max would be a hit in the Premier League due to his good pedigree. He spent time in the Bayern Munich and Schalke academies and has won three caps for the German national team.

In a welcome boost for Leeds, Max could be put on the transfer market this winter. PSV are facing financial problems and Max is one of their highest earners, on around £30,000 a week. As such, they may choose to offload him to save some money.

Leeds have allocated funds to sign a new left-back and so should be able to meet PSV’s demands for the defender. And they also have the finances to match Max’s wage demands.

It is unclear what Max’s potential arrival in West Yorkshire would mean for Junior Firpo. He swapped Barcelona for Leeds in July 2021 but has struggled in terms of form and fitness.

This has forced Jesse Marsch to operate with centre-half Pascal Struijk at left-back for much of this season. And while Struijk has done well, Leeds need a more attacking player to fill the position.

RUMOURED LIVERPOOL TARGET ON VERGE OF BAYERN MOVE

Liverpool’s options for a new central midfielder appear set to dwindle slightly as Konrad Laimer is close to joining Bayern Munich instead.

Liverpool looked into capturing Laimer during the summer. Ultimately, though, they refrained from landing him and instead brought in Arthur Melo on loan on transfer deadline day.

Arthur made just one appearance in a Liverpool shirt before picking up an injury. Due to this, Liverpool remain on the hunt to sort out the position.

On December 1, TEAMtalk transfer insider Graeme Bailey said Laimer ‘ticks a lot of boxers’ for the Reds. However, he also revealed the Austrian to be close to a Bayern switch.

And that rival transfer now looks set to go through. On Monday, Fabrizio Romano declared Bayern to be ‘closing’ on the deal for 2023. A verbal agreement between Laimer and Bayern is ‘almost ready’.

Nothing is signed between RB Leipzig and Bayern for the transfer but this will be sorted out in the coming months.

Laimer has wanted to join Bayern for some time now and the Bavarians’ manager, Julian Nagelsmann, is a big fan of him.

The most likely scenario will be for Laimer to link up with Bayern once his Leipzig contract expires next summer.

The prospective move will leave Liverpool with one less option to bolster their midfield. But there are other, top-class players who can be targeted instead.

The first is of course Jude Bellingham, who recently had a great World Cup with England. And Liverpool are said to be at the front of the queue to sign him.

An alternative to Bellingham for Liverpool is an Argentine enforcer, with reports from Portugal and Spain claiming a pre-contract agreement is already in place.