ARSENAL’S MADDISON MISSION HEATS UP
ARSENAL have stepped up their pursuit of James Maddison and are willing to offer several players as part of a deal for the Leicester midfielder. As revealed by Sportsmail last month, Maddison is a key target for Gunners boss Mikel Arteta as he seeks to add creativity to his midfield, after on-loan Martin Odegaard returned to Real Madrid.
At this stage, £50million would not be enough to bring Leicester to the table. However, Arsenal would allow a fringe player such as winger Reiss Nelson to move in the opposite direction. Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who Leicester looked at last January, is also available.
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers is keen to add a wide forward before the start of next season. Nelson, 21, has only one year remaining on his contract at the Emirates Stadium and has played only 22 times under Arteta, last featuring in January.
Leicester rejected a £70m bid for Maddison (below) from another Premier League club last summer before the 24-year-old signed a four-year deal worth £100,000 a week.
Arsenal have brought in Albert Sambi Lokonga from Anderlecht for £18m and are keen to add to their midfield options. Lille’s Renato Sanches is another target.
Arsenal have a strong relationship with the French champions, having signed Nicolas Pepe and Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille in the past two summers, and there is a cash crisis in French football. The Gunners are keen on Sassuolo and Italy midfielder Manuel Locatelli, 23, but he has eyes on a move to Juventus.
Maddison was central to Rodgers’ plans after the Foxes boss arrived in February 2019. But he struggled to regain his place after he recovered from a hip problem last season, being left out of the starting XI for the FA Cup final against Chelsea in May. Maddison came on in the second half to help Leicester lift the trophy for the first time, but he is thought to have been hugely disappointed to be on the bench initially. After he was left off England’s long list for Euro 2020, Rodgers said: ‘The one thing you can control as a player is your fitness. You can’t control the tactics, but you can control your mentality and your fitness. This will be a great summer for him to get back. When he does that, you’ve seen the level he can play his game.’ Arsenal, Chelsea and Aston Villa are chasing free agent ex-Fulham keeper Marco Bettinelli, 29. Meanwhile, former Gunners chief executive Ivan Gazidis has been diagnosed with throat cancer. Gazidis, 56, was Arsenal’s CEO from 2009 to 2018 and now holds the same role at AC Milan. LEEDS are frontrunners to sign Chelsea and England Under 19 midfielder Lewis Bate. Liverpool have sold Marko Grujic to Porto for £10.5m and Taiwo Awoniyi to Union Berlin for £6.5m.