Arsenal will pass up on the opportunity to sign Youri Tielemans from Leicester City in the current transfer window, according to a report.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has confirmed that his side are still in the market for new additions this month, and the midfield is understood to be a priority area for the Spaniard.
Arsenal were heavily linked with a move for Tielemans earlier in the summer window before cooling their interest in the 25-year-old to focus on other targets.
Having now added attacking and defensive reinforcements to their ranks, Arsenal are being tipped to try again for Tielemans, who is also believed to have attracted glances from Manchester United.
However, with the Red Devils prioritising moves for Frenkie de Jong and Adrien Rabiot, Arsenal are seemingly leading the race to sign Tielemans in the coming weeks.
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Tielemans has now entered the final year of his contract at the King Power Stadium, and the Belgium international is not expected to agree to an extension.
As a result, Brendan Rodgers's side face the prospect of losing Tielemans on a free transfer next summer, but that has not deterred the Foxes from setting a high price tag after paying £40m to bring him to the club permanently from Monaco in 2019.
According to football.london, Leicester are demanding as much as £32m to part ways with Tielemans in the current window - a figure which Edu and other senior Arsenal figures deem excessive.
The report adds that Arsenal are therefore prepared to wait to sign the midfielder as a free agent in the summer of 2023, but Edu will be on red alert if the situation changes in the coming weeks.
West Ham United and Newcastle United are among the clubs to have also been credited with an interest in Tielemans, and Arsenal may reignite their interest if another suitor attempts to hijack a move.
Leicester would ideally like to agree a one-year extension with Tielemans next summer in order to force Arsenal to pay a fee, but the ex-Anderlecht youngster is still holding out for a move to a European-competing club for the remainder of the 2022-23 season.
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Tielemans played the full 90 of Leicester's 2-2 Premier League draw with Brentford at the weekend amid speculation surrounding his future and will take on his admirers on Saturday at the Emirates.
The 25-year-old has now racked up 24 goals and 24 assists in 159 games for Leicester in all tournaments since January 2019, winning the FA Cup and Community Shield in that time.
Tielemans ended the 2021-22 season with six goals and four assists in 32 Premier League outings, but his efforts could only help Rodgers's side achieve an eighth-placed finish.
Arsenal do have the option to utilise new signing Oleksandr Zinchenko in midfield, but Arteta has already affirmed that he views the Ukrainian as a left-back first and foremost.
The Gunners confirmed on Monday that Lucas Torreira had left the club to sign for Galatasaray on a permanent deal, leaving Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka, Mohamed Elneny, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Ainsley Maitland-Niles battling for midfield places.
Maitland-Niles is facing an uncertain future after returning from his loan spell at Roma, though, while Hector Bellerin, Pablo Mari and Alex Runarsson are all expected to leave before the transfer deadline as well.
Ben Knapton
