Arsenal's search for a new playmaker has taken an interesting twist this week...

What's the word?

According to Goal.com's Charles Watts, Leicester City star James Maddison has emerged as a target, with the Gunners interested in his signature but his £60m price tag could prove troublesome.

It's thought that bringing Martin Odegaard back from Real Madrid has always been a priority and whilst that still isn't out of the question, Watts says that talks with parent club Real Madrid have left the North Londoners feeling that they will have to look elsewhere.

Forget Odegaard

If technical director Edu Gaspar and the rest of the Emirates Stadium hierarchy can find a way to make this deal happen, then they can forget about signing Odegaard.

Maddison has been one of the most consistent attacking midfielders in the Premier League in recent seasons, playing a big part in the Foxes' monumental rise under Brendan Rodgers, in which they won the FA Cup this season.

Injury blighted a lot of his 2020/21 campaign but the one-cap England international still delivered 11 goals and ten assists across all competitions, including strikes against Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City.

These returns were better than every single Arsenal midfielder combined. And he missed several months of the season.

In his 29 appearances in North London, the Madrid wonderkid only provided four direct goal contributions, averaging a goal or assist every 288 minutes in the Premier League alone, via Transfermarkt.

The £60m-rated Leicester dynamo also averaged 0.2 more key passes each outing than the Norway international too, so it's not at all a bad thing if Mikel Arteta's attentions were to turn elsewhere.

His manager Brendan Rodgers has frequently lauded him during their time together at the King Power, dubbing him everything from having "immense quality" to being "sensational."

Whilst The Times' chief football writer Henry Winter believes the 24-year-old maestro "has a special talent".

If the Gunners want to fill their creative void, then ultimately, they should look no further than Maddison.

Arteta is, according to Football London's Chris Wheatley, said to be "a huge fan" of his and that should be enough for Edu and the club to pull the trigger to get a deal done.

AND in other news, Edu must sanction Arsenal swoop for "very talented" £40m monster who's "like Ozil"...