Arsenal are planning to lodge a fresh bid to sign Brighton star Moises Caicedo this summer.
The Gunners tried to lure the Ecuadorian to the Emirates Stadium in January but Brighton rejected their £70million offer and Caicedo stayed until the end of the season. However, Mikel Arteta's side are expected to come back in for the 21-year-old, who impressed in the Seagulls' 3-0 win over Arsenal last month.
According to The Times, the Gunners are plotting a renewed offer for Caicedo as Arteta tries to bolster his midfield department in the summer transfer window. Caicedo played in all but one Premier League game for Brighton in the 2022/23 campaign as they finished sixth and qualified for Europe for the very first time.
After Brighton's final day defeat at Aston Villa, Roberto De Zerbi confirmed that Caicedo is likely to leave the Amex Stadium this summer. The Italian also said the same about Alexis Mac Allister - who has now completed his big-money switch to Liverpool. He admitted: "Yes, I think it can be the last game for Alexis and Moises Caicedo.
"I am really sorry because they are two great people and two great players but the policy of Brighton is like this. "It is right that they can leave, they can play at a higher level.
"People believe Alexis is a fantastic player, but as a man he is better than the player I'm really sorry if we lose him, if we lose Moises Caicedo, but players like this deserve to play at another level, another level in terms of competition, in terms of importance of the club, prestige of the club."
Arsenal are also looking at other midfield targets and one at the top of their shopping list is Declan Rice. The 24-year-old may have played his final game for West Ham on Wednesday night as the Hammers lifted the Europa Conference League thanks to Jarrod Bowen's last-minute winner.
An added bonus for Arsenal is that Rice will be allowed to leave West Ham this summer. When asked about whether the win over Fiorentina in Prague was Rice's last game, chairman David Sullivan said on talkSPORT: "I think it has to be. We promised him he could go. He set his heart on going.
"You can't ask for a man who has committed more to us this season. In due course, he has to get on and we have to get a replacement - or several replacements. It's not something we want to happen. We offered him £200,000-a-week 18 months ago. He turned it down.
"It's cost him £10million to stay at West Ham in that time (in lost wages). And he wants to go. You can't keep a player who doesn't want to be there."
However, although Rice is set to leave West Ham, Arsenal may have to increase their offer to over £100m. The England international has one year left to run of his contract but the Hammers are demanding a near-British record transfer fee for Rice, who has also been linked with Newcastle, Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
