Arsenal’s bid for Leicester City star Jeremy Monga appears to be under serious threat, with Manchester City reportedly looking to hijack the deal. Monga was heavily linked with the Foxes’ exit from the King Power Stadium after they were relegated to League One last season. He has attracted interest from several Premier League clubs, including Arsenal and Brentford.
The newly crowned English champions have been pursuing Monga in recent weeks and it has been suggested that a deal could be close. However, City’s late bid to sign Monga means their deal for the 16-year-old is at risk of falling through at the 11th hour.
According to Fabrizio Romano, negotiations are underway to bring the player to the Etihad Stadium, and new manager Enzo Maresca will also take part in the presentation of the project.
Monga is said to be tempted by the prospect of joining City, despite Arsenal having been in the lead so far.
Meanwhile, BBC Sport report that the Gunners are the most interested, but it is now increasingly likely that Monga will join City instead.
This comes after Nottingham Forest agreed to sign England midfielder Elliott Anderson for a club record transfer fee of £116m.
Monga is scheduled to turn 17 at the end of this month, at which point his current scholarship contract will convert to a professional contract. From there, interested clubs will need to pay a transfer fee to secure his signature.
Leicester are said to be asking around £10m to sell Monga. Monga is the third-youngest player in the Premier League after Arsenal’s Max Dauman and Ethan Nwaneri.
He made his debut towards the end of the 2024/25 season, coming off the bench in the match between Leicester and Newcastle, aged just 15 years and 271 days.
Monga played in seven games that season as the Foxes were relegated to the Championship.
He played a further 30 games in the 2025/26 season, but the club were relegated to Ligue 1 for the second year in a row with a six-point difference due to a breach of EFL financial rules.
Leicester have always had a strong track record of retaining young talent, but they have seen an increase in promising academy players leaving in recent years, with Trey Nyonyi joining Liverpool and Tyrese Nbicy joining City.
