Arsenal eye battle with Man City over Aston Villa ace Jaden Philogene-Bidace
Arsenal are ready to lock horns with Manchester City for Aston Villa starlet Jaden Philogene-Bidace, it’s claimed.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta wants to build a dynamic young side.
The Spaniard has already put his faith in youth with Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Joe Willock all looking the real deal this season.
Arteta also has his scouts tracking top talent at other clubs, though.
According to Football Insider, Philogene-Bidace is firmly on the agenda. The 18-year-old is viewed as a rising star at Villa.
However, he’s out of contract in the summer and rival clubs are now sniffing around.
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The Gunners will face huge completion for this services, though. City’s interest is long-running and Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich are also well aware of his talents.
Philogene-Bidace has already enjoyed stints training with the Villa first team. He managed an impressive six goals in 10 under 18 fixtures this season.
Arsenal are having a topsy turvy campaign. They are now out of the Europa League and a top-five finish looks like a huge ask.
Arteta warned earlier this month that his plans for the club could be derailed if Arsenal aren’t playing in Europe’s elite competition.
“The damage caused by the club not being in the Champions League is really big,” he said.
“The financial impact is enormous because Arsenal is structured to be in the Champions League.
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“While you can sustain being out of it for one year or two years, after that you have to start making big decisions.
"We will have to make decisions about players depending on the scenario we find ourselves in, whether we are in the Champions League, the Europa League or nowhere near either.
“The planning has started and we’ll have a very clear idea of what we want to do, depending on where we finish the season.”
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