Arsenal Targeting Antonio Nusa for January Transfer

Arsenal are quietly building towards another decisive January – and this time the spotlight is fixed on Antonio Nusa.

The RB Leipzig winger has emerged as a leading target for Mikel Arteta, with Arsenal increasingly confident they can push a deal over the line in the winter window, according to multiple reports. The mood around the club is that this is a move worth stretching for.

They have already spent big in wide areas. Christos Tzolis arrived from Club Brugge in the summer for around £34m, a statement of intent and a nod to the future. Yet the squad has been reshaped just as aggressively. Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus all departed in the same window, stripping away established attacking depth and leaving a clear mandate: one more high-level attacker must come in, if the right profile becomes available.

Nusa fits that profile almost perfectly.

Earlier in the season, Caught Offside reported that the Norway international had become Arsenal’s top target for January, with Juventus talent Kenan Yildiz also on their list. Arsenal had already tracked Nusa in the summer, but his rapid development in the Bundesliga has sharpened their interest. He has grown into one of the league’s most exciting wide players, a winger who carries the ball with purpose, attacks full-backs relentlessly and brings the kind of one-against-one threat Arteta has been searching for on the left.

That kind of directness is not easy to find. Arsenal know it, Leipzig know it, and so does half of Europe.

The London club are not alone in this race. The Daily Briefing has confirmed that Arsenal’s interest is “genuine and concrete” and that several other clubs are pursuing the 21-year-old. Arsenal, though, are said to be “confident” they can land him, with a fee in the region of £45m being discussed as a realistic possibility rather than a fantasy figure.

Just as the optimism has started to build, a note of resistance has emerged from Germany.

The Sun reports that Arsenal have been scouting Nusa extensively but face a significant hurdle: RB Leipzig do not want to lose him mid-season. Inside the club, the winger is viewed as a key player, central to their plans for the second half of the campaign. Any negotiation, especially in January, would be complicated and hard-fought.

That tension defines the deal. Arsenal see opportunity; Leipzig see risk. Something has to give.

Yildiz remains another name on Arsenal’s radar, but prising him away from Juventus would require a huge offer, according to previous reports. For now, Nusa looks the more active pursuit, the one where Arsenal sense there is at least a door to push against.

All of this unfolds against a broader transfer strategy that stretches beyond the wings.

A striker sits next in line on the agenda. Back in September, transfer insider Fabrizio Romano underlined that point, describing a new centre-forward as the “next priority for Arteta”. Arsenal are already considering options and mapping the market, even if there is no immediate panic. Internally, they are content with their current forwards; the goals are flowing, and there is no sense of emergency.

This is long-term planning, not short-term firefighting.

Romano suggested that if a striker does not arrive in January, the summer window becomes the natural stage for that move. The time frame is flexible, the intention is not. At some point before 2027, Arsenal expect to address the position decisively.

For now, though, the focus inside the club is clear. Secure the next wide threat, add more pace and unpredictability to Arteta’s front line, and do it while the project still has the momentum of back-to-back title challenges.

If Arsenal can persuade Leipzig to part with one of their prized assets in the middle of the season, Nusa could become the latest piece in a carefully assembled attacking puzzle. If they cannot, the question becomes sharper: how long can a team with this much ambition wait before making its next big attacking statement?