Man City ‘confident’ of signing record-breaking Arsenal star after leaving Chelsea in dust – Arteta will be fuming

Manchester City are reportedly growing in confidence about piling more misery on Arsenal by signing one of their most talented young players, having moved ahead of Chelsea to put themselves in ‘pole position’ for the transfer.

Arsenal were recently overtaken by City in the Premier League title race. Arsenal drew consecutive league games against West Ham and Southampton before losing 4-1 to City on April 26, which allowed Pep Guardiola’s men to put themselves in a great position.

As things stand, Arsenal are just one point behind City. However, City have a game in hand and if they win that, as they are expected to, they will extend their lead to four points.

With only three matches left for Arsenal, the Gunners are running out of time for City to drop points and for them to capitalise by winning their first league title since 2003-04.

And things could go from bad to worse for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta if City manage to snare Ethan Nwaneri away from the Emirates.

Nwaneri is a 16-year-old midfielder who can also operate as a left winger. He made history in September last year by becoming the youngest player to ever appear in the Prem. He came off the bench against Brentford at the age of 15 years and 181 days, overtaking the record which was previously set by Harvey Elliott at Fulham.

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Nwaneri is one of the most exciting young players in the Arsenal academy, a setup which has helped produce players such as Bukayo Saka, Serge Gnabry, Joe Willock and Emile Smith Rowe in recent years.

But Arsenal are at serious risk of losing the talented teenager. In March, The Telegraph revealed City and Chelsea to be hunting his signature.

Man City close to poaching talented Arsenal youngster

And Football Insider have now provided an update on the situation. They reveal that City are ‘confident’ of winning the race for Nwaneri.

Both City and Chelsea have been monitoring his situation ‘for months’, but the Prem leaders have recently moved into ‘pole position’ to sign him.

Nwaneri cannot sign professional terms with Arsenal until he turns 17 in March next year. But it is unlikely he will ever do that as City are getting ever closer to landing him.

Arsenal will likely receive some compensation from their English rivals if Nwaneri does head to Manchester. However, this will not be enough to keep Arteta happy.

The Arsenal manager will likely be angry as Nwaneri has a very bright future. He is already an England U17 international and could end up excelling for both City and the England senior team in the future.

Should City succeed in their swoop for Nwaneri, then Arsenal may have to watch as he blossoms with one of their closest competitors. Arteta will be telling Arsenal they simply cannot let that happen, although it appears to only be a matter of time before the wonderkid ends up at the Etihad.

Meanwhile, Arsenal will face competition from Aston Villa to sign a three-time Champions League winner after Mateu Alemany put Unai Emery’s side in the frame to complete a shock deal.