Transfer window: 10 players who could strengthen Arsenal’s midfield

D eclan Rice is Arsenal’s big target in the transfer window this summer. Edu and Mikel Arteta are waiting patiently for West Ham to play the last game of their season, against Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final, before trying to arrange a deal for the midfielder.

Arsenal will be without Granit Xhaka next season after his £13m move to Bayer Leverkusen, so they need to bolster their midfield with at least one player. If Rice joins the club, he could take the No 8 role occupied by Xhaka last season or play in his more familiar No 6 role further back. If he were to sit deeper, Arsenal would surely want to sign a more attack-minded midfielder as well. Here are 10 midfielders who should be on the club’s radar this summer.

Arsenal looked certain to sign Tielemans a year ago, so much so that their fans were chanting “Youri Tielemans, we’ll see you next week” during their 4-2 win over Leicester in August. Now that Leicester have been relegated and Tielemans has said goodbye to the club’s fans, Arteta may want to go back in for the versatile midfielder. The Belgian averaged 2.1 tackles per game in the Premier League this season and can contribute further up the field too – he scored 28 goals and registered 26 assists during his time at Leicester.

Simons could be a good fit for Arsenal. Paris Saint-Germain have a buy-back clause for the 20-year-old, but Simons may prefer a move to Arsenal where minutes would be easier to come by and he would be joining a team spearheaded by young players. He was the second top scorer in the Eredivisie this season with 19 goals and he chipped in with eight assists. The Netherlands international likes to get into the penalty area – he had 162 touches in the opposition box this season