Arsenal are continuing their summer pursuit of Leicester City attacking midfielder James Maddison as Mikel Arteta eyes his summer rebuild.
Maddison, 24, has been highlighted as the primary target by Edu and co. as they are actively trying to make a compromise with the Foxes when it comes to the transfer fee required to unlock this operation.
football.london understands that Brendan Rodgers' side would want a fee in and around the region of £60million to consider letting go of their attacking talisman.
If the right amount of money is coughed up by the Arsenal board, what makes this deal likely is that the ex-Liverpool and Celtic boss has admitted in the past that players who aren't committed to the cause can leave the club.
"If a player doesn't want to be here, with all due respect, we don't want them here. It's as simple as that," Rodgers said last summer.
More recent quotes, though, show the Northern Irishman is keen keep hold of his current crop of players ahead of another top-four challenge next season.
Rodgers said: "In conversations with the club, we don’t have to sell. That’s something that’s been made clear.
"The players want to stay. It's a really exciting time at the club.
"There’s lots of gossip and speculation around but I’m loving working with the guys here, they love being here, and we certainly have no need to sell. So I would suspect we’re looking to keep our best players."
Maddison is reportedly open to a move to the Emirates Stadium this summer which helps in the north Londoners' pursuit of the England star.
Unfortunately from Mikel Arteta's perspective, it doesn't seem like Maddison himself will force through a potential move this summer, as the midfielder featured in Leicester's most recent 3-2 pre-season victory against Europa League winners Villarreal.
In their attempts to come to an agreement, the Gunners have offered a selection of fringe players to the east Midlands club to try and reduce the asking price.
football.london understands that the north Londoners have offered one of Reiss Nelson, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Joe Willock and Eddie Nketiah as makeweights in the deal for the Foxes midfielder.
Bookmakers Ladbrokes have now dropped their odds for Maddison joining Arsenal this summer, hinting that a deal could be on the cards as we approach the back end of this summer's transfer window.
They have dropped their odds from 4/11 to 1/5 on this move happening this term.
Maddison enjoyed an extremely productive 2020/21 campaign with the Foxes, notching an impressive 11 goals and ten assists across all competitions, showcasing just exactly why Arsenal are keen for his signature this term.
