Arsenal are lining up RB Leipzig winger Antonio Nusa as their first signing of 2027, with the Gunners said to be ‘confident’ of adding the Norway international to Mikel Arteta’s squad for the second half of the season.

An injury to Bukayo Saka has exposed Arsenal’s lack of depth in the wide areas, which was something they wished to address in the summer.

Having only signed Christos Tzolis, though, the Premier League champions are back in the market for a wide man and are ready to pay around €54 million (£45m) to sign the in-form Nusa, who has already delivered four goals and six assists in eight Bundesliga appearances this season.

And Arsenal are “confident” of striking a deal that will see the 21-year-old move to the Emirates, according to The Daily Briefing.

Antonio Nusa is the thrilling Saka alternative Arsenal crave

Nusa has shown early this season that he is ready to make an immediate impact, while his potential is also enormous. According to SciSports, he has the capacity to grow into one of the best players at Arsenal, with a ceiling higher than Saka’s current level.

There are only a handful of left wingers who have a higher ceiling than Nusa, according to the data analytics experts, but none of these options possesses the current ability and availability on the market that the Norwegian does.

Noted for his thrilling dribbling, he would bring an extra dimension to Arsenal’s attacking play, and having some end product to his game this season, would offer an additional open-play threat that the Gunners can lack at times.

In addition to this, he would bring down the age profile of the squad. At 21, he would become one of the youngest players in Arteta’s ranks. Only academy graduates Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ma Dowman are younger.

But what he lacks in age, he makes up for in experience, having already played nearly 200 senior club games plus 34 more for Norway.

Expert opinion: €100m Nusa warning

Bundesliga expert Ronan Murphy has warned Arsenal that the fee quoted by reports is likely dramatically underestimating RB Leipzig’s negotiating skills. Instead, he believes Nusa might only go for €100m or more – like Yan Diomande in the summer.

He explained to FootballTransfers: “Every season, RB Leipzig go into the year hoping one of their bright talents will step up and become their newest star.

“There are two requirements for this: one, they need their players to perform at the highest-level to continue being one of the Bundesliga’s best teams meaning they qualify for the Champions League; two, they can then sell this now-more-polished player for a massive fee, allowing them to repeat the process with the next uncut gem.

“Antonio Nusa is the latest perfect example of this. The 21-year-old has 10 goal contributions in the first eight Bundesliga games of the season, a blistering start the likes of Christopher Nkunku and Yan Diomande did not come close to at the Red Bull Arena. Those players went on to bigger clubs, and Nusa will too.

“The Norway international has been linked with Arsenal, who will have been impressed with his direct running and his excellent technical skills, perhaps with Mikel Arteta having an eye on how he might unlock defences. A move to Arsenal would mean low blocks and less space, which might nullify some of his strengths, and with Leipzig putting €100m+ price tags on their stars these days, is Arteta prepared to take the risk?”