Arsenal
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According to L’Equipe, as reported by The Daily Mail, Arsenal are keeping tabs on Lens midfielder Seko Fofana.

Seko Fofana joined Lens in the summer of 2020 and this season, his performances have caught the attention of several big clubs and the Gunners are one of them.

Mikel Arteta is looking to add a new central midfielder to his squad before the next season begins so it’s not a surprise that the Gunners are being linked with the 27-year-old.

Who is Seko Fofana?

Seko Fofana played for the Manchester City U19 side and he was even promoted to the first-team squad in 2014 but he did not play even a single game for the senior side.

The central midfielder had his best time when playing for Udinese from 2016 to 2020. He scored 13 goals in 119 games across all competitions during these four years.

Last season, he played 38 league games for Lens, scoring eight goals and had a rating of 7.30 out of 10.

He is also a full-time Ivorian international, making his debut in 2017.

Is Fofana going to be the backup plan for Arsenal?

Arsenal were thought to be very close to signing Youri Tielemans but recent reports have revealed that the Gunners are nowhere near to wrapping up this deal.

This means Mikel Arteta’s side are still scouting the market for central midfielders because the manager desperately needs to add depth to this area of his squad. Lokonga has been really poor and there’s no way Arteta can put his full faith in the pairing of Thomas Partey and Xhaka.

We believe Tielemans is the first-choice target for Arsenal and only when the Gunners are almost certain that they won’t be able to sign the Leicester City man, only then will they shift their focus to someone like Seko Fofana.

Lens are willing to part ways with the midfielder this summer but they have placed a valuation of £34m on his shoulders and this is something which could prove to be a deal-breaker for the Gunners.

Instead of signing someone like Fofana for £34m, Arsenal will very readily spend £40-50m on Manchester City’s Zinchenko who can play as a midfielder and also as a left-back.

Read: Have Arsenal actually cooled off their interest in this 25Y/O winger who’s also wanted by Spurs and Chelsea?

Read: Despite previous reports, Arsenal are not close to signing this £30M midfielder.

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Read: Ligue 1 side are ready to pay €25-30M for this Arsenal player.