Arsenal wanted Youri Tielemans but Leicester City have rebuffed their late approach for the Belgian midfielder.
Nicolas Pepe’s loan move to Nice has left Arsenal fans wanting another winger to bolster Mikel Arteta’s squad.
However, injuries to Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny mean that another midfielder may actually be a higher priority.
Edu is running out of time to get a new midfielder in and one approach appears to have been rejected.
Arsenal wanted Youri Tielemans
The Independent report that Arsenal have made a move to try and sign Leicester contract rebel Tielemans.
The Belgian midfielder is out of contract next summer and has shown little indication that he will sign a new deal any time soon.
Arsenal have therefore attempted a late deal in the hope that Leicester would cash in now before Tielemans leaves for nothing.
Instead, Leicester have rejected Arsenal’s move as boss Brendan Rodgers allegedly doesn’t want to lose anybody else.
Kasper Schmeichel has joined Nice and Wesley Fofana completed a move to Chelsea on Wednesday, leaving Rodgers a little short.
With Leicester struggling in the Premier League, Rodgers understandably doesn’t want to take any more quality out of the squad.
That leaves Arsenal looking elsewhere and Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz appears to be the key name in the frame.
Douglas Luiz – much like Tielemans – is out of contract next summer and that makes a deadline day move very appealing to Arsenal.
The Gunners will hope that Villa take a different stance to Leicester and choose to sell before the deadline.
Fabrizio Romano reports that Douglas Luiz is keen on joining Arsenal but it’s ‘not an easy deal’ to get him out of Villa today.
Douglas Luiz looks like a much more likely signing than Tielemans as things stand though, with Edu scrambling to add depth to Arteta’s midfield in the final hours of the window.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
