Arsenal transfer ‘hijacked’ as Man City eye another bombshell agreement | Football | Sport
Arsenal‘s pursuit of Leicester City starlet Jeremy Monga appears to be under serious threat, with Manchester City reportedly trying to hijack the move. Monga has been heavily linked with an exit from the King Power Stadium after the Foxes were relegated to League One last season. He has attracted interest from several Premier League clubs, including the likes of Arsenal and Brentford.
The newly-crowned English champions have been chasing a move for Monga in recent weeks and it’s been suggested that a deal is close. However, their efforts to sign the 16-year-old are now at risk of falling flat at the eleventh hour, because City are making a late attempt to land Monga for themselves.
According to Fabrizio Romano, negotiations are underway to bring the forward to the Etihad Stadium, with new manager Enzo Maresca also involved to present his project.
It’s claimed that Monga is tempted by the prospect of joining City despite Arsenal having been in the driving seat until now.
BBC Sport, meanwhile, say the Gunners are the most advanced in their interest but there is a growing possibility that Monga will join City instead.
It comes after they agreed a club-record fee of £116million to sign Nottingham Forest and England midfielder Elliot Anderson.
Monga will turn 17 later this month, at which point his current scholarship deal will turn into a professional contract. From there, interested clubs will have to pay a transfer fee to secure his signature.
Leicester are said to be demanding around £10m to sell Monga, who is the third-youngest player to appear in the Premier League behind Arsenal duo Max Dowman and Ethan Nwaneri.
He made his debut towards the end of the 2024/25 season, coming off the bench for Leicester against Newcastle at just 15 years and 271 days old.
Monga made seven appearances that season as the Foxes were relegated to the Championship.
He played another 30 games in 2025/26 as the club suffered a second successive relegation to League One, which came after they were docked six points for breaching EFL financial rules.
Leicester previously had a strong record of retaining their young talent, but have seen an increasing number of promising academy players move on in recent years, including Trey Nyoni to Liverpool and Tyrese Noubissie to City.
