Arsenal's pursuit of Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans may have taken a fresh twist with just over a month until the summer transfer window closes.
Despite signing Fabio Vieira and extending Mohamed Elneny's contract, football.london understands the Gunners remain interested in bringing the Belgium international to the Emirates Stadium before deadline day, although they are yet to lodge an official offer for the 25-year-old.
Amid reports that the Foxes are interested in signing Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno - as a potential replacement for Kasper Schmeichel - there have been suggestions on social media that a swap deal involving Tielemans would be the ideal scenario for all parties involved.
READ MORE: Mikel Arteta's key problem blocking Youri Tielemans £30m transfer to Arsenal
Whether the two clubs can come to an agreement remains to be seen, but another player being tipped to leave the King Power Stadium this summer is central defender Wesley Fofana and his possible exit could have major implications for Arsenal in the coming weeks.
According to reports, the Frenchman is attracting interest from Chelsea who still appear to be on the market for a central defender despite already signing Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli as they seek to replace Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger following their departures on free transfers.
However, with Fofana signing a two-year contract extension with Leicester in March which means his deal now runs until 2027, it means Brendan Rodgers' side will be in a strong negotiation position should they decide to cash in on the 21-year-old - hence claims of a £70m asking price, as per CBS Sports.
With Chelsea considering a move for Fofana coupled with reports that Leicester must sell before they can buy, these developments could be bad news for Arsenal and their pursuit of Tielemans as it might prove difficult to prize a second key player away from the King Power in the same window.
Now, the Foxes aren't strangers when it comes to selling big players. In fact, since winning the Premier League they have let N'Golo Kante, Riyad Mahrez, Harry Maguire and Ben Chilwell depart. But it should be noted that these four transfers happened one after the other across successive windows from 2017 to 2020 with City unwilling to be weakened too much.
As a result, Chelsea's interest in Fofana may hand Arsenal an incentive to launch a bid for Tielemans sooner rather than later as if the Frenchman does complete a move to Stamford Bridge and Leicester's stance of not selling two key players in the same window remains then it would end hope of signing the Belgian.
Although, what could work in the Gunners' favour even if Fofana is sold is Tielemans' contract situation as he has less than a year remaining on his current deal meaning the Foxes risk losing him for free next summer if they don't cash in on his services for a cut-price fee between now and January 2023.
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