Arsenal tracking Nigerian international midfielder

Raphael Onyedika is a target for Arsenal, with the Gunners deploying a scout to Belgium to monitor the Nigeria international player in action for Club Brugge. The 22-year-old emerged through the Norwegian league with Midtjylland, before a transfer to Brugge on a five-year contract followed.

Onyedika has already played four games for Brugge so far this season, and Arsenal want to move quickly to sign the defensive midfielder as a potential backup for Thomas Partey and Declan Rice, as there still remains some uncertainty over the long-term future of Ghananian international Partey, constantly linked with a move to the Saudi Arabian league.

So far, Onyedika has just one cap for Nigeria.

Onyedika brings a ton of flexibility to Arsenal's setup, as he is comfortable playing in central midfield or central defence, and a pricetag of £15 million euros is unlikely to put Arsenal off of their pursuit of the player.

The Gunners are popular in Nigeria, thanks to their signing of Nwankwo Kanu in February 1999, and the club see the signing of a Nigerian fully-fledged international as crucial to their commercial aspirations in Africa.