Arsenal have been told that it will cost them a club-record fee to sign Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount this summer, after Manchester United tabled a £55m bid this week.
The Gunners are keen to recruit in midfield after falling to a disappointing second in the Premier League in the dying stages of the season, despite having led the way for much of the campaign.
Midfielder Granit Xhaka is expected to depart, with a move to Bayern Leverkusen thought to be on the cards, which means that Mikel Arteta is on the hunt for at least two new midfielders, with Declan Rice their undisputed number one target.
Mount, who is out of contract in 2024 and has so far been unwilling to extend his time in west London, is also thought to be high on their list of transfer targets, though the midfielder has also caught the eye of Premier League rivals Manchester United and Liverpool, as well as European giants Bayern Munich.
Currently out injured, the midfielder has endured a difficult campaign at Stamford Bridge, with just three goals and two assists to his name and unable to prevent the Blues from suffering their worst-ever Premier League campaign.
Along with several other stars in Blue, he is considering his future and is thought to be open to a move this summer.
In fact, the Blues are ready to demand as much as £85m for the homegrown talent, an amount that would smash through Arsenal’s current record £72m transfer fee for Nicolas Pepe, which they paid in 2019.
That, combined with the £92m that is reportedly demanded by West Ham for Rice, could well make it a record-breaking summer for the Gunners.
