Edu may have already completed Arsenal's Yves Bissouma transfer mission with £45m deal
Arsenal's links to Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Yves Bissouma have gone quiet ahead of transfer deadline day, and some Gunners supporters have a theory as to why that is
JoriPress
Yves Bissouma remains a dream signing for many Arsenal fans ahead of transfer deadline day.
In fact, some weren't too pleased to hear rumours of Liverpool making an official enquiry to Brighton and Hove Albion for the midfielder, with the Seagulls wanting in excess of £40million to get a deal done.
However, the good news for Arsenal - should Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu decide to make Bissouma their sixth and perhaps final signing this summer - is that reports of an enquiry from the Reds are not true, as per the Liverpool Echo.
But will this stance spark the Gunners into action before Tuesday's deadline?
Well, Arsenal's interest in Bissouma was first revealed back in January, and since the end of last season, a number of fans have made it clear that he would be the perfect midfield partner for Thomas Partey.
Although, not all supporters share that view.
Judging by some of the reactions on Twitter in recent weeks, there's a theory that the two are of a similar profile which would suggest that the Gunners have already signed their 'own Bissouma' when completing a £45million transfer for Partey last summer.
Another possible reason why Arsenal haven't followed up their interest in Bissouma could be down to what Arteta is demanding from his midfielders.
It's no secret there has been an alarming lack of goal contributions from the Gunners' central midfield players in recent years.
Take last season for example where Mohamed Elneny, Partey, Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka managed four goals across all competitions between them, whilst the more creative players such as Willian, Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard managed seven in total.
Arteta is well aware of the problem, highlighting it back in December ahead of the January transfer window.
"It's very clear. If you say 'can they do it?' it's a question mark. Have they done it in the past? The answer is no," said Arteta. "We haven't had any goals from midfield, it's not something that happened [just] this year, it happened in other years and is something that has to be addressed.
"To change the qualities and characteristics of players is very, very difficult. A big team needs players in midfield who score goals. They need central defenders that score goals from set-pieces to add to that.
"If you start to lose those margins, you start to lose points, you start to be away from the top team, this is not any science."
