Arsenal, Liverpool battle it out for Bundesliga midfielder with ‘auction’ set to trigger price rise
Arsenal and Liverpool are both keen on bringing Eintract Frankfurt’s Jesper Lindstrom to the Premier League this summer, according to reports.
The Denmark international moved from Brondby, where he came through the youth academy, to Frankfurt in 2021 after two impressive seasons in the first team at the Danish Superliga club.
Lindstrom, who has ten caps and one goal for Denmark, had a good second full season at Frankfurt in 2022/23 with the 23-year-old contributing seven goals and two assists in 27 appearances for the Bundesliga outfit.
Liverpool have already lost Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain this summer, with Fabinho joining them soon with his move to Saudi Arabia imminent.
That means Liverpool are looking for at least one or two more midfielders this summer despite bringing in Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton and Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig.
Arsenal have also been linked with a possible move for a new midfielder and now Danish publication Ekstra Bladet (via Sport Witness) claims the Gunners and Liverpool are interested in signing Lindstrom.
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Arsenal and Liverpool have ‘already been in contact’ with Frankfurt over a potential deal for Lindstrom but they face huge competition for the attacking midfielder.
Ekstra Bladet names Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, RB Leipzig, Juventus, Inter Milan and Napoli as other clubs interested in Lindstrom.
It is understood that ‘there are plans for a summer sale’ at Frankfurt with the Bundesliga club’s initial asking price set at €35-40m – but the report claims an ‘auction’ could see their demands rise to €50-55m.
Legendary Gunners manager Arsene Wenger was honoured by Arsenal this week with a new statue outside the Emirates Stadium to celebrate his 22-year tenure at the club.
Speaking about the statue, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta told the club’s official website: “It’s such a great tribute that the club has done something special for Arsène that he fully deserves and merits. With a statue now at the stadium, Arsène can have that recognition and be here at our club forever.
“I’m so grateful to have played for Arsène at this club in my career. He chose me to be one of his players and selected me to be the captain of the club and that’s something I will never forget.
“Towards the end of my playing career, I started to speak with Arsène about going into coaching and management myself, and he told me he had already anticipated that. Even the first year when I got here, he said to me: ‘one day you are going to be a manager’, and I wasn’t really thinking about that at that time.”