Arsenal’s interest in adding Leeds United winger Jack Harrison to Mikel Arteta’s squad at the Emirates Stadium is now a “slightly different situation” as to what it was in the summer, CBS reporter Ben Jacobs has told GiveMeSport.
The Gunners are looking to make a forward addition to the side ahead of the second half of the Premier League season.
Arsenal had been pursuing the signing of Shakhtar Donetsk and Ukraine winger Mykhaylo Mudryk since the summer transfer window until Chelsea secured the eight-cap international’s signature for £89m last weekend.
Meanwhile, Harrison was the speculation over a potential move to Newcastle United during the summer transfer window, with Leeds slapping a £35m price tag on their valued asset, as per the Daily Mail.
Transfer insider Dean Jones told GiveMeSport last month that the Magpies were still interested in a move for the 26-year-old, however, there had been no indication that the Whites would be allowing him to move on in January.
And Jacobs has suggested that Arsenal also held an interest in the wide man last summer and the Gunners were not the only club that considered making a move for Harrison.
Jacobs told GiveMeSport: “Jack Harrison is another long-standing target. With Harrison, I think it’s a slightly different situation now compared to the summer. Arsenal were not the only club that considered a move for Harrison, although they didn’t move in any sort of significant way necessarily.
“They certainly made enquiries, as did Newcastle United. I think that now on the Harrison front, it’s perhaps a level of clubs slightly below where Arsenal are, that are looking at the player.”
It seems that Harrison – who has previously been labelled as “explosive” by current Leeds head coach Jesse Marsch – has already got a positive opinion of Arsenal head coach Arteta, having worked with him during the pair’s time at Manchester City, telling Sky Sports: “I only worked with him for one pre-season and watching the way he worked alongside Pep (Guardiola) was inspirational, watching all the advice they gave to the players was something I really tried to learn something from.”
The Stoke-on-Trent-born star has enjoyed a solid if unspectacular campaign at Leeds so far, hitting the back of the net just once whilst providing four assists in 17 Premier League appearances, as per Transfermarkt.
The 5 foot 9 wide man is prepared to put in the hard yards for his team, as shown by the fact he ranks in the top 6% of attacking midfielders/wingers across Europe’s big five leagues as well as the Champions League and Europa League for tackles (2.18) and top 8% for blocks per 90 minutes (1.38) over the last 365 days, as per FBref.
However, with Leeds in such a precarious position in the Premier League at the time of writing, it seems unlikely that the Whites would be willing to let one of their main attacking talents leave the club midway through the season.
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Harry is a football writer with multiple years of experience in the field, having worked as an intern at Port Vale Football Club, before coming through the ranks at the O&O Academy at Snack Media.
Having worked as a freelance writer on This is Futbol from July-November 2022, Harry now works as a freelance writer for the Exclusives team at GiveMeSport, mainly covering Premier League football as well as Celtic and Rangers.
Football dominates Harry’s life and when he’s not writing about the sport, he is often found following his beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers home and away.
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