Why Arsenal Are Losing Race to Sign ‘Priority’ Summer Target

The Gunners want to keep building after being crowned Premier League champions.

Jeremy Monga could be swayed by another team. | Stephen White/CameraSport/Getty Images

Arsenal face competition in the race to sign 16-year-old Leicester City winger Jeremy Monga this summer, with Brentford emerging as a reported rival suitor.

Monga, who turns 17 next month, played 30 times for Leicester across 2025–26, having previously debuted for the Foxes as a 15-year-old in April 2025 when the team was still in the Premier League.

Arsenal spent big last summer in a bid to become English champions for the first time in 22 years. It worked, but now focus appears to be on maintaining that long-term, perhaps explaining why Monga has been billed as the “priority target” for the Gunners ahead of next season.

But Mikel Arteta’s team are at risk of missing out. The Times note that Brentford have “stepped up” interest in the teenager and “formal contact” with him is expected from the Bees.

That Leicester were relegated from the EFL Championship at the end of 2025–26, and will start the new season in League One, only makes Monga’s departure more likely. But the Foxes should still financially benefit as long as the prodigy doesn’t leave before July 10.

That is the date when Monga turns 17 and can sign a first professional contract with Leicester. After that point, the Foxes can command and negotiate a transfer fee.

Should Monga leave before signing a contract, it would cut Leicester out of the picture. The club would still receive compensation for the player—the case for all free agents in England aged 23 or younger—but it would be determined by a tribunal and could be considerably less.

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Why Brentford Transfer ‘Appeals’ to Monga

Monga has played a full season before his 17th birthday. | Athena Pictures/Getty Images

Brentford’s ace up the sleeve is the prospect of offering more regular senior minutes to Monga than he might get should he choose Arsenal. That is described as holding “appeal” to the player, who is looking to keep going on his current upward trajectory.

There is always the chance that getting stuck on the fringes without consistent opportunities at a bigger club like Arsenal could stall his progress.

Brentford have a proven record of developing players who eventually go on to bigger things, like current Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya or Manchester United forward Bryan Mbeumo.

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Arsenal’s Own Record-Breaker Faces Future Uncertain

Is Ethan Nwaneri being pushed out? | David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

Were Arsenal to beat Brentford to Monga’s signature—at this point that looks increasingly unlikely—it could spell disaster for Ethan Nwaneri.

The homegrown Gunners talent is the only player in Premier League history to have played at a younger age than Monga, but his massive potential has stalled more recently. After limited game time, Nwaneri finished 2025–26 on loan at Marseille and still only managed 322 minutes in Ligue 1.

Monga could essentially further replace Nwaneri, whose place as a backup right winger had already been usurped by another teenage superstar, Max Dowman.

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