£43.6m Real Madrid forward want to follow ‘Ødegaard’ footsteps and join Arsenal on free transfer after he was told to find a new club by Ancelotti – He’s unhappy with the Real Madrid boss

According to a report from Spain, Mikel Arteta is the main man driving Arsenal’s interest in Marco Asensio.

Last summer, Arsenal reportedly made an offer of £34m for Marco Asensio, a player they have been linked with since before he signed for Real Madrid in 2014.

18 months on and the 26-year-old could well be available for a reduced price in January as he sees out the final year of his deal in Spain.

Once valued at around €90m, Asensio comes with a €25m price tag these days but will be available for nothing in the summer.

Carlo Ancelotti would reportedly like him to remain with Real Madrid, but there seems to be no sign that Asensio will sign a new deal to do just that.

Mikel Arteta, however, would apparently like to bring him to Arsenal.

With Asensio rumours, it really is hard to tell how much truth there are to them.

Are Arsenal just an easy club to link to? Did Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery both want to sign him and does Arteta now?

That being said, Arsenal are looking for a player to replace Nicolas Pepe, so who knows, maybe this time there’s something to it all.