Arsenal have submitted a formal bid of £60 million to sign Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo, although this has already been turned down by the South Coast club.
The Gunners have been seeking midfield reinforcements, with suggestions that the knee injury that is currently keeping Mohammed Elneny on the side-lines is more serious than first suggested and that he could be out for the rest of the season.
The Ecuadorian international has already been the subject of a bid from Chelsea of £55 million, but that was rejected, with suggestions that he wanted to stay with the South Coast club until the end of the season in order to help them qualify for Europe for the first time in their history.
The Gunners, though, know that their move is likely to prompt a response from Chelsea, who have already demonstrated in the case of Mykhailo Mudryk, their willingness to gazump their North London rival not only in terms of price, but also length of contract offered.
It also remains to be seen if Arsenal are ready to up their offer, although Caicedo has now confirmed in an open letter that he wishes to leave Brighton.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.