Arteta readies Arsenal to join bidding war for Man Utd target as Man City plan earlier move

Arsenal have joined the race to offer Marc Guehi a step up from his current situation at Crystal Palace, according to a report – but Manchester City are also said to be keen on the defender.

Guehi is now an established England international and seems to be ready for the next step at club level after impressive over the past two-and-a-bit seasons for Crystal Palace. For example, TEAMtalk learned earlier this month that Manchester United have genuine interest in the centre-half.

Now, The Sun has claimed that Arsenal are an interested party for Guehi as well. The report also mentions Man Utd‘s interest, as well as admiration by Man City and the player’s former club, Chelsea.

One difference about the potential approaches is that Arsenal are only willing to wait until the end of the season to make a move for Guehi. In contrast, Man City might be tempted to try and beat the competition with a January bid.

However, Crystal Palace’s preference would be to keep the 23-year-old, who the report says is ‘not on the market’ as things stand.

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Palace still have Guehi under contract until 2026 and have been tipped to command a club-record fee if they sell him, which means the asking price would be more than £50m.

Although Arsenal are listed as admirers of Guehi by The Sun, it is claimed that Mikel Arteta believes they have a settled selection of centre-backs at present.

Nevertheless, if they want to keep challenging near the top of the Premier League table, they will not be able to stand still in the transfer market, which is why Arteta has identified Guehi as a long-term target.

Tottenham also admire Guehi

Likewise, Man Utd and Chelsea are content to wait with their pursuits of Guehi, despite his rising value. Another contender Arsenal would be eager to beat to the former Swansea City loanee would be north London rivals Tottenham.

This season, Guehi has played 11 times for Palace, for whom he has now made 93 appearances in total since they bought him from Chelsea.

The centre-backs he would be competing with at Arsenal include William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Benjamin White, Jakub Kiwior and the currently injured Jurrien Timber, who only joined the club this year himself.

Man City, meanwhile, have Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and John Stones, but are somewhat surprisingly still said to be in the market to stock up another high-pedigree centre-back.

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