Signing Declan Rice from West Ham is understandably the summer priority for Arsenal, but there is one other transfer that could be more important. The Gunners are facing a battle to sign the Hammers captain against Bayern Munich with each party preparing their first formal offers ahead of the summer window opening on June 14.
football.london understands he is the main target for Mikel Arteta while another midfield addition is likely at Emirates Stadium. If Rice signs, he could also be joined by one of Moises Caicedo, Martin Zubimendi, Mohamed Kudus or Mason Mount with that quartet forming the bulk of Arteta and Edu's short list.
Other players that have been loosely linked includes Alexis Mac Allister, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Gabri Veiga. The latter of those names could be at the centre of the summer's biggest transfer battle with Chelsea, Newcastle, Manchester United, Manchester City, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich all monitoring his situation.
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The 21-year-old is expected to leave Celta Vigo this summer with his €40million (34.3m) release clause likely to be met. A move within La Liga appeared the most likely however reports in Spain now indicate that Newcastle are the team leading the race for his signature.
According to Marca, the Magpies have already submitted their first bid which has placed them as the front-runners. However, Arsenal simply cannot allow that to happen, with so many other English clubs interested, the Gunners have to make sure that if Veiga arrives in the Premier League it is in north London.
Liverpool and Chelsea are unlikely to have as bad seasons as they did for the following campaign with a mini rebuild taking place at Anfield, and Mauricio Pochettino now in place at the Blues. Those two teams returning to push for silverware and Champions League football means that Arsenal cannot sit and wait around for others to pick up marquee signings and ultimately pay the price.
It has been clearly stressed that the Gunners will not be drawn into bidding wars this summer but ultimately to be considered a top club by many, sometimes unnecessarily flashing extra cash is warranted. Just take a look at the Man City bench after the title had been won with Pep Guardiola heavily rotating his team, nearly £500million just placed on the side lines and yet City can still go out and get the job done.
The Gunners should not be put off by the hefty queue of suitors waiting for Veiga, but instead begin making contact, explaining their project, providing assurances and basically just doing all they can to sign the midfielder. With Granit Xhaka in advanced talks to sign for Bayer Leverkusen, as football.london understands, and therefore expected to leave, his replacement must be identified quickly.
For at least three months, Arsenal have held an interest in Veiga and with the opening of the summer window now approaching they must act upon that interest to acquire someone who could become a key member of their squad and prevent rivals from strengthening or they could face a Cristiano Ronaldo repeat.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has stressed on numerous occasions how close he came to signing Ronaldo before he joined Manchester United. Of course, with the beauty of hindsight that can be looked back on as a shocking decision not to sign him, but the Gunners can somewhat avenge that decision by ensuring they bring in Veiga, but perhaps more importantly, that none of Chelsea, Newcastle, Man United, Man City are able to obtain his services.
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