Arsenal eye £34m-rated Lens midfielder Seko Fofana
Arsenal are keeping tabs on Lens midfielder Seko Fofana as Mikel Arteta looks to further bolster his squad amid a busy period of summer activity for the club.
The north London club have moved early this window to secure a number of targets with the signing of Fabio Vieira from Porto having been confirmed and Gabriel Jesus’ move to Arsenal expected imminently.
Sportsmail now understands that the club have identified Fofana as a potential addition for their midfield, with Youri Tielemans and Crystal Palace-target Cheick Doucoure also being considered.
Fofana arrived at Lens from Udinese in 2020 for around £8.5m with the French club now set to demand around four-times that price to lure him away.
According to L’Equipe, Newcastle are also in for the signature of the £34m-rated midfielder.
The dynamic Ivory Coast international is not unknown to clubs in England having spent time with Manchester City as a youngster while also enjoying a loan spell with Fulham in 2014-15.
Fofana enjoyed a stellar season in Ligue 1 last term, scoring eight goals and recording three assists as Lens finished 7th.
Despite the club’s interest in Fofana, however, they see Raphinha and Lisandro Martinez as priorities this summer and will look to wrap them up first.
They will also likely need to sell players before they can bring in any others on top of those who they have identified as priorities.
Meanwhile, the announcement of Jesus’ move to Arsenal is imminent after it emerged on Sunday that there had been an agreement reached between the player and the club.
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Arsenal and Manchester City had previously agreed a fee of around £45m with talks then taking place between the player and the north London club. Those were thought to have been a formality with Jesus always being keen on linking up again with former coach Mikel Arteta.
The two know each other from Arteta’s time as an assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City with Jesus previously on the record speaking of his admiration for the Arsenal boss.