James Maddison is the latest man to be touted with a move to Arsenal to fill their creative midfield vacancy, but ex-Manchester United star Roy Keane thinks he would be better of staying put at Leicester City.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta is aiming to sign a big name in the middle of the park to pull the strings behind the likes of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Last season saw Arsenal recruit Real Madrid star Martin Odegaard on loan for the latter half of the campaign, but the Norwegian has since returned to his parent club.
Though recent reports suggest bringing Odegaard back on a permanent basis is an option being explored by the Arsenal hierarchy, it is thought that Maddison is Arteta's ideal target ahead of the upcoming campaign.
However, it is likely to take quite the fee to ensure Leicester let the 24-year-old leave, with £70m the reported figure Arsenal need to strive for.
Roy Keane has claimed Maddison would be wiser to stay with the Foxes, explaining how Arsenal are not currently an improvement on Leicester City.
Speaking ahead of the Foxes clash with Manchester City in the Community Shield on ITV, Keane said: "Arsenal are a huge club At this moment in time I don’t believe to leave Leicester where they are is a step up to go to Arsenal.
"Probably backwards [step] At this moment in time, Arsenal is a huge club, Leicester where they are challenging for the Champions League, they won a trophy last year. Arsenal are short yet."
Keane went on the speculate the reasons Maddison may be tempted to join the Gunners, claiming: "Maybe he might just fancy a bit of change, maybe just fancy a bit of London? I don’t know.
"It’s a difficult one, Vardy had an opportunity to go to Arsenal he turned it down. He got big money, turned it down, he got big money at Leicester let’s not kid ourselves.
"But Leicester, the group of players they have. They’ve got a new training ground. If he’s leaving Leicester, I don’t think Arsenal is the right option, if I was him I’d sit tight."
Arsenal would likely to have to offload a number of their current crop of stars to fund a move for Maddison, who has previously been reported as someone who is 'open' to the idea of a move to North London.
