Arsenal have made a second bid of £30million for William Saliba.
The 18-year-old centre back is highly-rated and Saint Etienne want him to stay in Ligue 1 for next season at least.
It's likely that any deal being done will result in a loan move back to the French outfit, according to TF1.
But Arsenal also face competition for Saliba from North London rivals Tottenham, as well as Serie A giants Roma.
It's believed that Arsenal are in pole position to sign the talented teen and discussions are ongoing between the clubs.
The £30m bid could hint that Arsenal's request for Stan Kroenke to provide more transfer funds for Unai Emery has been successful.
Emery initially only had a transfer budget of £45m for the summer window and needed to sell players before he bought.
But the club have made bids for Kieran Tierney and Wilfried Zaha in recent days and are also heavily linked with Ryan Fraser.
Celtic left back Tierney is their main target in defence and reports in England state that the Hoops have told Arsenal they would accept a bid of £23m.
The initial bid was turned down by Celtic after they felt the add-ons were unlikely to happen.
