While it appeared that Leeds United were going to win the race for Ilias Akhomach, who is expected to leave Barcelona on a free, Arsenal have now joined in to provide competition.
That’s according to Sport in Spain, who cover the player’s situation, and make it clear it’s the Elland Road side who are still ‘in pole’ to get the forward, with the Gunners now one of the options, alongside Sevilla, AC Milan and a fifth team.
Ilias ‘will not renew’ his contract at Barcelona, which has opened the door for the likes of Leeds and Arsenal to try their luck.
The Whites are said to ‘have an advantage’, but there are ‘negotiations with four other suitors’ and ‘nothing has been finalised’.
In fact, Arsenal have ‘been closely following’ the player for some time and ‘are in the running’.
With Mikel Arteta’s side a club ‘always attentive to emerging stars’, it makes sense for them to have sniffed out an opportunity, as they continue to build their squad as they currently lead the Premier League by a comfortable eight points, albeit having played an extra game than Manchester City.
The belief is there ‘may be a final decision’ on the player’s future in ‘the next few days’ or ‘weeks at most’, and despite Leeds currently being ahead of the game, they aren’t guaranteed to have secured the player’s services just yet.
