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Arsenal edging out La Liga giants in race for French midfield star originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Arsenal enters the offseason fresh off what has been the most successful season the Gunners have seen in decades, being crowned the Premier League champions for the first time in 22 years, while losing out on doing the double through a penalty shootout in the Champions League final against Ligue 1 outfit Paris Saint-Germain.
With plenty of dominant performances throughout their campaign, it would be tough to pin down one area on the pitch that the Gunners need to improve on ahead of the 2026-27 season, but the red side of North London has found one: their midfield. In recent weeks, the Premier League champions have been linked to several midfielders, including the likes of Ayoubb Bouaddi and Leon Goretzka, but in the past few days, another name has appeared: Manu Kone.
The Gunners' prolonged interest in Kone
According to Turkish journalist Ekrem Konur, the Gunners have been tracking the French midfielder for some time, but have accelerated their interest in recent days, being in direct contact with Kone's agents, leapfrogging La Liga side, Atletico Madrid in the transfer contest.
Kone, who is currently under contract with Serie A side Roma, has found himself in a rather rare vein of form, managing to be a force to be reckoned with on both ends of the pitch in the Italian capital. Throughout his 37 appearances with I Gialloross last season, Kone would record five goal involvements, while making 25 interceptions and winning out on 31 tackles in the defensive end of the pitch.
These efforts were enough to catch the eye of Didier Deschamps, who would end up bringing Kone to his first World Cup with the French National Team, however the Arsenal transfer target wouldn't take to the pitch against Senegal during the tournament opener.
If the Gunners are to make a move for the Roma star, it's apparent that they'll have to splash some serious cash in order to do so, with Konur reporting that the Italian side is waiting for a bid in the region of €50M to make a deal happen. With Arsenal's only move of the offseason thus far being the loan move of Piero Hincapie being made permanent, the North London side is raring to get things going.
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