Arsenal ‘need to sell a valuable player’ due to financial rules, and Manchester United are ready to capitalise by signing one of their best youngsters, according to reports.

Mikel Arteta’s side spent over £250million last summer and are reportedly walking a financial tightrope, much like Manchester United have been for a while.

Arsenal’s strong start to 25/26 in F365 Tables

United are improving under Ruben Amorim and currently sit sixth in the Premier League table, eight points behind the Gunners at the top.

They couldn’t have done much worse than last season’s 15th-place finish, and Amorim was backed with over £200million in new signings as his attack was completely transformed.

Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha were all bought for big money, but the Red Devils are expected to be active in the winter transfer window, with a new central midfielder at the top of Amorim’s wishlist.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his transfer team are already planning for January, with Brighton’s Carlos Baleba and Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson among Amorim’s midfield targets.

MORE ON MAN UTD ON F365
👉 Premier League player power rankings: Fernandes up to third, Foden in top 10, no Salah or Van Dijk
👉 Bruno Fernandes claims spot in Premier League XI of season so far
👉 Man Utd ‘schoolboy’ to anger Keane, Bellingham and everyone else by starting for England vs Croatia

However, a report from an insider on X with a ‘team of five elite reporters’ says United are ‘circling like sharks’ to sign Arsenal wonderkid Ethan Nwaneri.

It’s claimed that the Gunners ‘need to sell a valuable player to fund future targets due to financial rules’, and Nwaneri could be the one sacrificed.

If the ‘unthinkable’ happens and United sign Nwaneri, they are likely to sell or loan out academy graduate Kobbie Mainoo.

Nwaneri signed a new contract earlier this year but has found minutes very difficult to come by in 2025/26, leaving him ‘fed up’ as he is ‘barely getting a kick’ and his career is ‘stalling hard’.

Amorim is a ‘big admirer’ of the 18-year-old and ‘would love to manage him’, it’s added.

Man Utd need a midfielder, not an attacker

It’s clear that United’s priority should be signing a new midfielder, but Brighton and Forest will want an absolute fortune for Baleba and Anderson, respectively.

Surprisingly, Casemiro has been very good this season, which has lessened the need to spend big on a central midfielder. But we’ve seen in the past that his form can nosedive easily, and an injury to the Brazilian could spark a midfield crisis.

Amorim is reluctant to play Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo together, meaning an injury to Casemiro would force the United head coach to start Manuel Ugarte.

Ugarte has massively underperformed since joining United from Paris Saint-Germain, and whenever he comes onto the pitch, they seem to play much worse.

Furthermore, if United receive a sufficient offer for Casemiro from Saudi Arabia, they will definitely consider it. Despite his form, he is 33 years old, one of the club’s highest earners on £300,000 a week, and is out of contract at the end of the season, though there is a club option to extend to 2027.

Nwaneri isn’t an out-and-out central midfielder and would be out of place in that position in a 3-4-2-1, but he’d be outstanding as one of Amorim’s wide 10s behind the striker.

It is important to note that there is very little chance this transfer happens.

READ NEXT: Are Man Utd ‘moving in the right direction’? Or did win ‘highlight’ biggest problem ahead of Amorim?