Arsenal ‘join Newcastle in transfer race to sign £34m-rated former Man City midfielder Seko Fofana’ from RC Lens

ARSENAL have joined the chase to sign £34million-rated Lens star Seko Fofana.

The midfielder has shone at the French club ever since his arrival from Serie A side Udinese in 2020.

That deal cost Lens around £8.5m – but now they want around four times that figure to sell him this summer.

And the 27-year-old Ivory Coast ace is not short of suitors, according to .

The publication claims that Newcastle are keen on bringing him to the Premier League.

But now they state that Arsenal are also in the transfer hunt and will battle the Magpies for his signature.

Fofana previously spent time in England with Manchester City’s academy as a youngster and enjoyed a loan spell with Fulham.

He then headed to France for another loan stint at Bastia before leaving the Etihad permanently for Udinese in 2016 after failing to make the breakthrough with the Cityzens.

The ace has gone on to shine since and was named in the Ligue 1 team of the year last season.

He has scored 12 goals and produced six assists in his 73 appearances at Lens.

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Now Gunners boss Mikel Arteta is hoping to add Fofana to his midfield ranks following the recent signing of Fabio Vieira from Porto.

Lens are facing up to the prospect of losing their star man but they are not prepared to sell him on the cheap.

They are aware of the huge interest in Fofana and are allegedly demanding a fee of between €30-40m for him.

Lens will also have to pay 20 per cent of any transfer fee to his former club Udinese as part of the deal that brought him to them two years ago.

However, both Arsenal and Newcastle could end up disappointed in their pursuit of Fofana.

The same report says that Paris Saint-Germain are also keen.

And that the player himself would prefer to stay in France rather than move to England.