Arsenal will have to see off a strong challenge from Manchester United in the battle for Ayyoub Bouaddi\u2019s signature.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was reported<\/strong> by trusted journalist Fabrice Hawkins late last year that the Gunners were ready to table an offer in the region of \u20ac45m (\u00a339m) for the teenager, but his club, Lille, were not willing to let him leave before the end of the season.<\/p>\n Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United were mentioned as potential rival suitors at the time, but another French reporter, Abdellah Boulma, now says that PSG and (more specifically) United are making the most effort to persuade Bouaddi.<\/p>\n Posting on his X account, Boulma said that the Red Devils could go as far as \u201cenlisting Sir Alex Ferguson\u201d in order to get the move over the line.<\/p>\n The midfielder only turned 18 in October last year, but he has been a firm fixture in Lille\u2019s first team since the start of last season. He has racked up 94 senior appearances already despite his age.<\/p>\n Many regard Bouaddi as one of the most promising young midfielders in Europe, so it is not a surprise that so many teams are keen on securing his services.<\/p>\n He did sign a new contract with Lille back in December, keeping him with the Ligue One side until the summer of 2029, but there is a feeling that he will be sold for a big fee over the coming months.<\/p>\n Bringing in a left winger is reportedly the highest priority, while the club are still hoping they can sign Atletico Madrid\u2019s Julian Alvarez as well, despite the sizeable costs involved.<\/p>\n Read more about the Arsenal First Team Squad for 2025\/26 here<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/article><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arsenal will have to see off a strong challenge from Manchester United in the battle…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What do fans need to know about Bouaddi?<\/h2>\n
Arsenal are prioritising other positions<\/h2>\n
While reinforcing the midfield is on the agenda for sporting director Andrea Berta, the front line is deemed to be in more urgent need of strengthening.<\/p>\n