Arsenal and Liverpool will have to pay £35m to sign Lens star Seko Fofana

Premier League giants Arsenal and Liverpool will have to pay around £35m to sign Lens midfielder Seko Fofana.

The 27-year-old joined Lens from Udinese in 2020 and has been hugely impressive over the past two years. Fofana has established himself as a key player and was named captain by manager Franck Haise this season.

The Ivory Coast international has provided 14 goals and 8 assists in his 85 appearances in all competitions, and is helping Lens mount a surprise title charge following an excellent start to the new campaign.

Using stats obtained from Sports Loci, we can see that Fofana has secured an average rating of 7.08, has played 16 key passes, made 11 successful tackles and completed 16 successful dribbles while having 24 shots on goal during his 12 Ligue 1 appearances this season.

His impressive form in the middle of the park has attracted interest from the Premier League as Arsenal and Liverpool have been heavily linked with the players over the past few months ahead of the January window.

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta tried desperately to strengthen his midfield in the summer transfer market and the Spaniard failed with late bids to sign Aston Villa star Douglas Luiz having tracked Youri Tielemans for several months.

More competition for Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka is still needed if Arsenal are to maintain their title push during the season half of the season and it seems the North Londoners are eyeing a move for Fofana this winter.

Competition

However, Liverpool are also in the market for midfield reinforcements as Jurgen Klopp knows he needs to inject fresh blood into his ageing midfield following a disappointing start to the season.

Long-term placements for Jordan Henderson and James Milner are needed at Anfield and Fofana is one of the names being eyed by the Liverpool hierarchy in January.

Arsenal and Liverpool have now learned the price they’ll need to pay as renowned transfer guru Fabrizio Romano claims that Lens want around £35m to cash-in on Fofana.

That price-tag is unlikely to deter the English big-hitters as they easily have the financial firepower to meet that valuation and it seems a very reasonable fee for a player of his quality.

The main problem that could prevent a move this January is that Lens will be reluctant to sell mid-season while they’re challenging at the top of the Ligue 1 table. They currently sit second in the table after losing just 1 of their opening 14 games, so manager Franck Haise will be desperate to keep hold of Fofana until at least the summer.