Arsenal’s mystery central midfield target provides an explanation for Youri Tielemans hold-up

Arsenal ‘cooled’ their interest on Youri Tielemans earlier in the window despite confidence toward the end of the previous season that he was a key target for the summer. It was said the club were looking to focus on other targets for the time being.

However, Arsenal missed out on Raphinha as they were unwilling to match his asking price and have since put their eggs in the basket of Lisandro Martinez. Other links have continued to circulate, with Edon Zhegrova and Grimaldo two of the most recent potential candidates.

The understanding remains that despite potential intentions to formalise their ambitions for Tielemans in the form of a bid, this is yet to happen. This has been a frustrating saga for fans who have struggled to understand why Arsenal are not taking the plunge.

An explanation was offered by Belgian football journalist Sacha Tavolieri with sources close to the player’s entourage. He told The Gooner Talk that Arsenal have a higher priority central midfield target that has so far remained out of the public eye.

“It was quite a bit strange because the entourage and the player understands he was not at a certain moment the priority of Arsenal. So, they didn’t want to go for him as a priority one hundred per cent,” Tavolieri explained.

Going further he added, “[Arsenal] have a target and a main target in the midfield that is not Tielemans. That is also not [Amadou] Onana. They want the player absolutely, and they want to get him.

“Tielemans is seen as a good opportunity to get but in the meaning of Arsenal, they are telling ‘Okay, he has one [year] contract left, we have the time, we can go for the 10th or the 15th of August. Let’s go to our priority, if this doesn’t happen, okay we have the time to go for