EXCLUSIVE: Leicester rocked as Arsenal eye £30m Brighton defender

Oli Fisher

Arsenal are looking to rival Leicester City for Brighton defender Lewis Dunk, we have exclusively learned.

Leicester have Dunk lined up as the replacement for Harry Maguire – whose future lies away from the King Power Stadium, but has not yet been finalised with Manchester City and Manchester United battling for his signature.

Brighton have just signed Dunk’s replacement in Portsmouth’s Matt Clarke and they now want the Dunk move done – having already set an asking price of around £30million.

Arsenal have already been priced out of a bid for West Ham United’s Issa Diop, and Dunk is more within their value – given the right transfer budget the club have given Unai Emery.

Emery ideally wants four players, but at the most they have told him he can spend £80million.

Arsenal are now set for talks over Dunk, but Leicester remain confident that they will land the 27-year-old.

The Gunners have also Brighton about Solly March – as they look at their options if they are unable to land primary targets Ryan Fraser and Yannick Carasco.

Get the latest personalised Arsenal products on our new TEAMtalk Gunners shop!