Arsenal will face competition from old foes Manchester United in the race to sign sign 16-year-old Scottish wonderkid Jack Wylie.
Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag has already sent scouts north of the border to get a good look at the highly-rated Rangers defender on multiple occasions this season. But Arsenal have been tracking Wyllie for much longer, as the Daily Star reports.
The Gunners are said to be so enamoured with the Ibrox sensation that they sent chief youth scout Lee Herron to Spain in September to watch Wylie - who can play as a right-back or in central defence - impress for Scotland's under-16s in their clash with Denmark. United have been alerted to Arsenal's interest and subsequently upped their own.
Members of United's recruitment team watched Wylie help Rangers lift the under-16 Club Academy Scotland Cup thanks to an emphatic 4-1 victory over bitter rivals Celtic earlier this month. Ibrox chiefs are desperate to convince their starlet to commit his future to Rangers by signing a long-term deal in January, when he becomes eligible to pen his first professional contract.
Rangers have already lost one of their hotshots in 2022, having reluctantly accepted a £350,000 bid from Aston Villa - then managed by former Gers boss Steven Gerrard - for talented forward Rory Wilson. New manager Michale Beale, Gerrard's ex-assistant, will be hoping that Wylie doesn't follow his former academy pal and resists the lure of being at a Premier League club.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta and United counterpart Ten Hag have been coy on their January business, with both gaffers using the World Cup break to plan for the winter window. Arteta recently hinted that only injuries would force the Gunners to splash the cash in midseason, having shelled out more than £130million over the summer.
Have your say! Which club should Wyllie sign for - Arsenal or Man Utd? Give us your prediction in the comments section.
"I said from day one that we have a short squad because at the end we left some players. It's what we have," the Spaniard explained before many of his players travelled to Qatar. "If everyone's available and no one is injured we are okay, but at the moment there is... We know what it is. It's nothing new. I think I said it the first day after the transfer window."
Meanwhile, Ten Hag has stressed that the Red Devils are "always" looking to improve, having signed six new players during his first transfer window, which closed in September. "In the background, we always continue a process, working on the squad," the Dutch tactician stated. "We want to have top sport culture and you see and examine how you can improve and that's what we will do."
