Arsenal ‘overwhelming favourites’ to sign midfielder as West Ham ‘confident’ of securing £80m fee

Arsenal’s first fixture post January transfer window did not go the way they planned as they fell to just their second defeat of the league campaign.

Sean Dyche oversaw an excellent win for Everton in his first game in charge and Manchester City will now have the chance to cut into the Gunners lead at the top of the table when they face Tottenham Hotspur today. Meanwhile, there is still plenty of talk going on behind the scenes with regards to the summer transfer window. Arsenal are said to be ‘overwhelming favourites’ to sign a midfielder from one of their Premier League rivals while West Ham are understood to be ‘confident’ of securing at least £80 million if they sell their star player at the end of the season. Here are the latest Arsenal transfer new stories on Sunday, February 5:

Arsenal ‘overwhelming favourites’ to sign midfielder who ‘very much wanted’ move

According to TeamTalk, Arsenal will be overwhelming favourites to sign Leicester City’s Youri Tielemans in the summer transfer window. The Belgian has been linked with a move to North London for some time but that talk cooled last month when it became apparent ath Brighton’s Moises Caicedo was very much their number one midfield target.

However, Tielemans is said to have been very keen on joining the league leaders in the past and ‘very much wanted’ the move when it was talked about. It is believed the 25-year old would still be keen on joining the Gunners and it is also reported that he is still ‘on the shortlist’ of potential midfield signing later this year.

West Ham ‘confident’ of securing at least £80m as Newcastle United ‘join race’ for Arsenal linked star

Per a report from Football Insider, West Ham are confident of securing a £80million-plus summer fee for Declan Rice as they prepare for ‘an elite-club auction’ for the England star. It is claimed that Arsenal, along with Chelsea, are in pole position to sign the midfielder while Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool have all expressed an interest.

As well as those five, it is now said that Newcastle United will ‘join the race’ if they are able to secure Champions League football for next season. West Ham had previously hoped to secure a fee over £100 million for their star player but the same report says they now believe that is unlikely due to his current contract expiring in summer 2024.