Arsenal are hopeful of beating Manchester City’s sister club Girona to the signing of Sverre Nypan after holding further talks with the Norway Under-21 midfielder.
Nypan, who in 2023 became the youngest player in Rosenborg’s history to score in a league match at the age of 16 years and 145 days, is in London with his representatives after attending Manchester City’s victory against Chelsea on Saturday. The 18-year-old is understood to be close to making a decision over his future after meeting Arsenal officials on Sunday, with Mikel Arteta keen to reinforce his squad this month after long-term injuries to Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus.
Nypan has been compared to his compatriot Martin Ødegaard for his creative abilities, having scored eight goals and provided seven assists in the Norwegian top flight last season. He is also wanted by Girona, who are owned by City Football Group, and was spotted in Erling Haaland’s box with the agent Rafaela Pimenta for the game against Chelsea. Aston Villa and Tottenham are also believed to have shown an interest. Nypan is expected to cost around £10m up front, although Rosenborg are likely to demand significant add-ons as part of the deal.
The Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke was in London this week and held discussions with Jason Ayto – who replaced Edu Gaspar as sporting director last year – over the funds available for transfers this month.
Arteta has made no secret of his desire to sign a striker before the end of the January transfer window, with Arsenal believed to have explored whether RB Leipzig might be prepared to sell Benjamin Sesko this month. The Slovenia striker signed a new contract last summer that is believed to include an understanding over a future transfer fee.
Arsenal have also been linked with a move for Matheus Cunha, although the Brazil forward could prove too expensive with Wolves thought to value him at around £80m. They could attempt to sign Evan Ferguson, who has been made available for loan by Brighton, but would have to cut short one of their two existing domestic loans: Neto from Bournemouth or Raheem Sterling from Chelsea. West Ham and Marseille have also shown interest in the Ireland striker.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, who made only his fourth start of the season against Dinamo Zagreb last week, could be allowed to leave if Atlético Madrid or Borussia Dortmund follow up on their interest. The Ukraine left-back has 18 months left on his deal, while Kieran Tierney remains in talks with Celtic over a return in the summer when his contract expires.
Crystal Palace, meanwhile, have been dealt a major blow after Chadi Riad sustained a suspected anterior cruciate ligament injury, with the Morocco defender expected to miss the rest of the season. Riad, who joined from Real Betis in the summer for £14m, had only just returned from another knee injury that caused him to miss three months but was dealt a new setback during training last week.
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With Trevoh Chalobah having returned to Chelsea after they cut short his loan, it means Palace have only three senior centre-backs available to Oliver Glasner and they are expected to try to bring in another replacement on loan. There are also concerns that Cheick Doucouré could be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Palace have had a new £14m bid for Slavia Prague’s El Hadji Malick Diouf rejected and could face competition from Brighton, Chelsea and Liverpool for the Senegal defender. “If Liverpool and Chelsea, who were also interested in him, had come with an offer of around €17m-18m, I would have hesitated to approach it differently from the perspective of promoting the club or the player’s interest,” the Slavia chairman, Jaroslav Tvrdik, said at the weekend. “If Chelsea comes, we wouldn’t keep anyone. Nothing will change, it’s just not possible objectively. One has to admit that the Czech league and Slavia have some limits.”
