Premier League side Arsenal could still strike a ‘last-minute surprise’ deal for the Premier League midfielder, according to reports in Spain.
Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans has been on the Gunners’ radar for months now with his contract running out at the end of the season.
Tielemans has been one of the Foxes’ best performers since moving to the King Power Stadium from Monaco in 2019 with the Belgium international scoring 28 goals in 184 appearances.
When asked whether clubs might come in for Tielemans in the final hours of the window, Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers said: “I started this chat two years ago. I don’t know what can happen.
“My focus is on who’s here and we’ll see what happens. He’s only got a number of months left on his contract and this has been going on for two years. I’m not going to continue speculating. We’ll see what happens.”
And now Spanish website Fichajes claims that Tieleman’s could be the ‘last-minute surprise’ from Arsenal in the January transfer window and the Leicester star ‘could become the last movement’ for the Gunners before the deadline.
Widespread reports indicate that Arsenal are set to complete the signing of Jorginho from Chelsea with the Italy international set for a medical today.
Fichajes adds that Tielemans’ ‘starting price would be completely ridiculous, being even below €20m (£18m)’ and that is ‘a bargain that Arsenal could take advantage of’.
Yesterday, CBS Sports journalist Ben Jacobs insisted that there was a possibility that Tielemans could make the move to north London before the deadline.
“I don’t think we can rule out Arsenal pivoting away from Caicedo, even though time is running out,” Jacobs told Caught Offside.
“But I think with Tielemans, to reiterate, we know he would take the Arsenal move and that, broadly speaking, terms have been agreed, dating back almost a year now.
“Conversations first took place last January, and there was a verbal agreement over personal terms between Arsenal and Tielemans, and the player genuinely thought the move would happen.
“The challenge now is Leicester, because even though you’d think, with the player not wanting to sign a new contract, that getting money for him now is better than him leaving on a free transfer in the summer, Leicester see Tielemans staying until the end of the season as more valuable than cashing in now for a relatively small amount.
“If Tielemans is the difference between Leicester staying up or going down, then there could be more value in keeping him now and then losing him on a free.
“I think Arsenal’s preference, if they do decide to target Tielemans, would still be to get him on a free in the summer if they can, and they’ll only change that approach if other clubs try to jump in ahead of them in the final hours of the transfer window.”
READ MORE: Top ten transfers which should go through on a weirdly exciting January deadline day
