Arsenal are monitoring the situation of Emi Buendia but have yet to make a formal offer for the Norwich midfielder, football.london understands.
The 24-year-old, who has notched seven goals and seven assists in 19 appearances this season, was a stand-out player for the Canaries in their disappointing Premier League campaign last season, creating 3.1 chances per 90 minutes and creating seven assists as they were relegated from the top flight.
As football.london revealed last month, he is one of several players on the Gunners' transfer shortlist although it's understood Arsenal have made no formal approach for the Argentine who manager Mikel Arteta is an admirer of.
A source close to the player told football.london last month that Buendia is "focused on Norwich and getting promoted" but refused to rule out a possible January move saying that "it depends on Norwich".
Buendia's key pass rate of 3.3 per 90 minutes last season was only second to Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne, while he created 70 chances which was only bettered by the Belgian and Liverpool's Trent Alexander Arnold.
The agency which represents Buendia has strong connections with Arsenal having looked after Alexis Sanchez and Emi Martinez at the club in the past few years.
Norwich manager Daniel Farke insisted at the weekend that he's confident of keeping Buendia despite the interest from a number of clubs including Arsenal.
“Emi is a key player for us, an important member of the group, and he is totally committed to us,” he said.
“He is our player and will continue to be our player. He is on a long-term contract so we keep him. Everyone knows his qualities – I don’t expect interest just because he scored a wonder goal today. People know what he can do.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal are keeping their options open this month and tracking Borussia Dortmund midfielder Julian Brandt who has also been earmarked as a player who could bolster the club's creativity department.
Brandt has played in a number of different positions at Dortmund this season and the Bundesliga giants have set a €25million price tag for the 24-year-old who would be willing to join the Gunners this month.
Technical director Edu is working on several outgoings this month with Sead Kolasinac and William Saliba completing loan moves today, while Sokratis is attracting the interest of clubs across Europe and looks likely to leave in the coming weeks.
