Arsenal star eyed by Real Madrid, as Gunners have to sell to balance books: report

Arsenal could lose one of their brightest academy talents this summer, with Real Madrid circling.

The Gunners are focused on the current season as things stand, with a nine-point gap at the top of the Premier League, which could produce their first league title since 2004.

Their closest challengers, Manchester City, beat them in the Carabao Cup final and still have a game in hand over the top club, with the pair set to face off later this month.

Arsenal may be forced into fielding Real Madrid approach

But some inside the Emirates Stadium will already be looking to the future, and that includes outgoings as well as incomings.

Under current financial rules, the biggest boost comes from selling academy products, with anything earned booked as ‘pure profit’ as no fee was paid to bring them in.

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With that in mind, Real Madrid are circling young Arsenal left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly, according to Fichajes.

The 19-year-old was a key feature under Arteta last season, but has struggled for minutes this term against the likes of Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie.

Both of those competitors have age on their side, so Lewis-Skelly’s route to first-team football is not clear in the current setup.

Based on the report, Florentino Perez is monitoring the situation, seeing an opportunity to replace the likes of Ferland Mendy and Fran Garcia.

BBC Sport reported that Arsenal are will to listen to offers for Lewis-Skelly, as well as fellow academy graduate Ethan Nwaneri.

In FourFourTwo’s opinion, while Arsenal fans are unlikely to agree, it feels like the time is probably right for Lewis-Skelly to move on.

He still has plenty of value in the transfer market, and clearly has a number of top teams interested, but that could fade the longer he’s out of the first-team frame.

It’s in the interest of Arsenal and the player to agree a deal now, to maximise the fee and playing time, respectively.

Lewis-Skelly is valued at €35m, according to Transfermarkt.