Arsenal have tabled a bid of £1.6m for 16-year-old Polish midfielder Krystian Bielik, according to reports from Polish media outlet Legia Sport.
The highly-rated teenager is dubbed as the ‘new Patrick Vieira’ and the Gunners are looking to push through a deal that they hope will be completed by mid-January, as long as the Premier League giants can persuade the player and his parents that North London is the right fit.
Legia Warsaw midfielder Bielik is said to be visiting the club over Christmas in an attempt to sway him to move to England, where he will also watch the Gunners tackle Queens Park Rangers ob Boxing Day.
Arsenal are in desperate need of a defensive midfielder and whilst Bielik is not a quick fix, it shows that Wenger is keen to not have a similar issue in the future as he looks to ensure the Gunners have a capable youngster ready to step-up later down the line.
This transfer is definitely one for the future, rather than an immediate fix, as it’s unlikely that we would see a player of his age in the first-team set-up immediately- although the likes of Gedion Zelalem and others have featured at some stages despite their young age.
Bielik has only been at current club Legia Warsaw for five months, after he moved from fellow Polish outfit Lech Poznan in the Summer for a fee of £9,500.
The transfer situation has been compared to Bielik’s compatriot, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who moved to North London in 2006- moving in with a local family.
However, Bielik’s family is likely to move to the UK with him should a transfer be completed- which looks to be likely as sections of the British press claim the family has already visited North London and have been impressed by what they have seen.