are yet to make a bid for star Youri Tielemans because they have doubts over the Belgian’s physicality.
The Belgium international is desperate to move to the Emirates and he’s informed Leicester that he will not sign an extension to his current deal, which expires in 2023.
The Foxes had been willing to give Tielemans a significant payrise to head off interest from the Gunners but they’re now minded to sell the midfielder, who became the club’s record signing in 2019 for a fee of around £30m.
Arsenal have spent big so far this summer, acquiring the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to take their spending past the £120m mark.
But Arteta remains keen on signing another midfielder and Tielemans, who has waited patiently for Arsenal to firm up their interest, thought his time had come to move to north London.
But say the Gunners have a major concern over Tielemans’ lack of physicality and while he has admirers at the club, they question his ability to play in a midfield-two.
Arsenal’s decision to cool their interest comes at a time when Manchester United consider a move for Tielemans.
The Red Devils have been hellbent on signing Barcelona star Frenkie de Jong since the start of the summer and they’ve agreed a £63m deal with the Catalans for the midfielder.
However, De Jong wants to stay the Camp Nou and in any case, he is owed £17m in deferred wages by the club and they’ve so far not shown a willingness to pay their debt.
That has forced Erik ten Hag to consider alternative options to De Jong and Tielemans is a seasoned Premier League performer.
His arrival could see Fred played deeper in midfield, with Tielemans operating in a box-to-box role.
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