Report: Arsenal the club most interested in 18-year-old deemed the ‘future Patrick Vieira’

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Arsenal have reportedly set their sights on Rennes midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu.

According to L’Equipe – via Sport Witness – the Gunners and Tottenham are both keen on the 18-year-old talent.

The French outlet claims Arsenal ‘appreciate the profile’ of the youngster, and ‘would like to sign him this summer’.

Arsenal have apparently looked at Ugochukwu ‘for several weeks’.

The Gunners seem ‘more and more convinced’ by the idea of recruiting him.

Indeed, Arsenal apparently view him as a ‘future Patrick Vieira’ and would be the ‘hottest’ on the case.

Ugochukwu has already made 20 competitive first-team appearances for his club side.

He made his debut in Ligue 1 last season, a substitute appearance in the 5-1 win over Dijon last April.

Ugochukwu has also played eight times for France’s Under-18s, scoring once.

The teenager missed nearly two months of action this year with an ankle injury.

However, he returned to the bench for the second leg against Leicester last week.

Ugochukwu then got 11 minutes on Sunday as Rennes beat Metz 6-1.

His last outing saw him get an assist for France U18s in their 1-1 draw with Germany’s U18s.

Arsenal could do with a new midfielder this summer, with Mohamed Elneny set to leave the Emirates.

Granit Xhaka is reportedly still on Roma’s radar, and Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ future is also uncertain.

Ugochukwu is likely to be a player for the future, and we can see him playing for the U23s initially.

Nonetheless, he looks like a superb player in the making, and the Gunners should definitely go for him.