Arsenal's hot pursuit of a central midfielder in the summer transfer window has seen links to several candidates such as Frenkie de Jong and Houssem Aouar emerge.
Whilst bringing in a new forward amid interest in Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus and securing an £18million deal for Bologna full-back Aaron Hickey to cover for Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu next season is a top priority for the Gunners, so is strengthening in the middle of the park so Mikel Arteta can complete an 18-month mission.
Back in December 2020, the Arsenal manager revealed his long-term plan was to transition into a 4-3-3 formation having favoured a 4-2-3-1 system at the beginning of his tenure: "We want to move to a 4-3-3," he said. "But for that, you need a lot of specificity in every position but now in five or six positions, we don’t have it."
