Chelsea 'interested' in Premier League star who could be available due to FFP concern as Arsenal chance presented

Arsenal are looking to make some major additions in the January transfer window as it reaches its midpoint. One area of the pitch they want to improve is central midfield - to do so, the Gunners could look to snap up Newcastle United superstar Bruno Guimaraes, who has been linked with teams such as Liverpool, PSG, Barcelona and Chelsea.

The Gunners are looking to sign a replacement for Granit Xhaka, after failing to find one in the summer transfer window. Guimaraes wouldn't be a like-for-like replacement - he is somewhat more slight and more technically gifted than the Swiss international - but he would be a much appropriate player to have as a box-to-box midfielder than Kai Havertz.

A move for Guimaraes would make sense from a Newcastle perspective, too. While he is one of the Toon's most important players, they reported a loss of £73.4 million this month - selling Guimaraes would offset much of this.

How would Bruno Guimaraes improve Arsenal's squad?

Last season, Arsenal looked incredibly strong in midfield, as the likes of Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey and the aforementioned Xhaka all worked incredibly hard to prevent the opposition from finding space in the middle of the park. In the current campaign, even with the acquisition of Declan Rice, they look much more vulnerable through the middle.

Havertz is a fine player, possessing excellent movement and a natural technical ability that even the greatest of talents would be envious of. He is not, however, a defensive master - when deployed in midfield, his relative lack of energy and poor tackling make him somewhat of a liability when on the back foot.

Xhaka, on the other hand, was a dogged battler in midfield. Comparing him to Havertz, at least when Arsenal are out of possession, is like comparing chalk to cheese. Arteta will feel some sort of necessity to field the German international, given his £65 million price tag - but it is not out of the realms of possibility that he could have another position in mind for him should Guimaraes be brought to the Emirates Stadium.

According to a report from AS, the Brazilian has been attracting a lot of attention, including from Chelsea, and an exit could be looming following a recent decision related to Financial Fair Play. Guimarães is one of the players to have been 'chosen by the board' for Newcastle to offload in order to 'settle accounts' and make back some cash. While his release clause is set at a hefty €115 million (£99m), the report claims that this payment could be split into three instalments of €38 million (£33m).