Arsenal are keenly tracking the progress of RB Salzburg's bright young stars as the Austrian side lit up Europe last night with a stunning victory in their first Champions League tie for 25 years.
A hat-trick from Erling Braut Haaland set the Austrian side on course for a 6-2 win over Genk in which highly-rated Hungarian playmaker Dominik Szoboszlai also found the net.
The Gunners have already registered an interest in Szoboszlai during the summer.
football.london has since been told that that initial approach was with a view to a move at the end of the coming season with the 18-year-old keen to gain experience with Salzburg before moving on to Europe’s top leagues.
Arsenal would not be short of rivals for Szoboszlai.
He has also linked with Juventus and Inter Milan, but would hope that their early manoeuvrings around a deal would leave them well placed should the Austrian champions choose to cash in.
Speaking earlier in the year, the midfielder revealed the two players he has been compared too.
A lot of people say that my style of play is close to Sergej Milinkovic-Savic [of Lazio] and Toni Kroos [of Real Madrid]," Szoboszlai told Goal.
"It is a great thing to hear that."
Scouts from Arsenal have extensively watched the Austrian Bundesliga in recent months - the Gunners invited LASK Linz to a friendly before their Europa League final against Chelsea - and were in place for a 5-1 win away to Tyrol in which Haaland, son of former Leeds United and Manchester City midfielder Alfe Inge, scored.
Norwegian international Halaand has been doing plenty of that of late.
In an Under-20 World Cup match against Honduras he found the net nine times whilst he has 17 goals to his name in just nine games for RB Salzburg this season.
The Austrian champions have an impressive record of developing talent in recent years with Liverpool duo Naby Keita and Sadio Mane having made their name in Salzburg.
Any move for Szoboszlai would likely not be made until the summer and it should be noted Arsenal are not yet at the stage where they are planning offers to Salzburg.
Arsenal will want to assess the progress of their own young core before deciding whether to add to it whilst their midfield transfer plans will be informed by whether Dani Ceballos returns to Real Madrid when his loan ends.
