Arsenal's January transfer pursuit of Mykhailo Mudryk officially ended over the weekend after Chelsea confirmed the signing of the 22-year-old for a fee in the region of £88million. The Gunners must now divert their focus on alternatives to Mudryk should they manage to bolster Mikel Arteta’s squad.
Following yesterday's North London Derby win over Tottenham, the Arsenal boss remained coy on his options in attack and claimed the club remain keen to improve the squad. He told football.london: "We have excellent players and we want to improve our squad in this transfer window - when I say we I mean, myself, the coaching staff, the staff players, the board and the ownership - we all want to do that.
"But we will do the deals we can do and the ones we feel are right for the club," Arteta continued. "We have to be very consistent in the target that we want, but as well what we want to do in each moment. We can get those players better, so let's focus on that."
READ MORE: Mikel Arteta has three surprise Mykhailo Mudryk alternatives to sign at Arsenal in January
Barcelona forward Raphinha has been linked with a move back to the Premier League but the Brazilian has recently hinted he wants to remain in Spain. One player who has been linked with a winter move is Brighton's Leandro Trossard. The 28-year-old is said to want to leave the Seagulls following a public bust-up with Roberto De Zerbi.
The Brighton manager confirmed last week that Trossard would be absent from his side's fixture versus Liverpool because of his attitude, which was followed by a statement from the Belgium international's agent, Josy Comhair, declaring he wants to leave the AMEX Stadium.
Arsenal could take Trossard off Brighton's hands this month to complete Edu's scouting mission from three years ago. Back in 2019, the forward was linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium before opting to join Graham Potter's Brighton from Genk. “[Graham] Potter came to Brussels especially for Leandro. With an extensive Power Point presentation to convince him," Comhair told HUMO.
"He absolutely wanted him. There were other options. In the same period, I had several conversations with Arsenal. They came to Belgium four times. I’ll give you a note: most players would have chosen Arsenal. But what would have happened if Leandro didn’t get to play?
"Then there is only one way out: to take a step back. People don’t realise what that does in someone’s head. I know Leandro: bench him three times and he goes wild. So, we turned it around: if he does well at Brighton, he doesn’t have to back down, he can take a step forward. Didn’t we get it right?”
After attracting plenty of interest from within the Premier League, Trossard could now be set to seal a move to north London. However, the Gunners will not endure an easy route to signing Trossard, with Tottenham and Chelsea said to be keeping tabs on his situation.
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