Arsenal could make a late offer in a bid to bring Amadou Onana to The Emirates in the January transfer window.

What's the talk?

That's according to Pete O'Rourke, who claimed in a recent interview with GIVEMESPORT that, after seeing a £70m bid turned down by Brighton & Hove Albion for Moises Caicedo, Edu may well be tempted into a late offer for the Everton midfielder - for whom the Toffees are reported to be demanding a figure in the region of £50m to part with this month.

Regarding the Gunners' interest in the 21-year-old, the journalist said: "He looks like a real top player, and also in the Belgium team as well. So I'm sure Arsenal, as well as a number of other clubs, are keeping tabs on his situation.

"If there's any chance he can be prised away before the window closes, I'm sure Arsenal and these other interested clubs will maybe make an offer for him."

Forget Caicedo

While it is undeniable that Caicedo would make a sensational addition to Mikel Arteta's current options in the heart of his Arsenal side, considering the fact that Brighton are reported have set an astonishing £100m price tag for the Ecuador international, the argument that Onana would be a dream alternative to the 21-year-old is a relatively easy one to make.

Indeed, despite playing for an underperforming Everton side, the £23m-rated talent has nevertheless highly impressed over his 18 Premier League appearances following his £33m move to Goodison Park last summer, making an average of 2.6 tackles, 0.9 interceptions, 1.2 clearances and winning 6.8 duels - at a success rate of 58% - per game.

In comparison, over Caicedo's 18 top-flight fixtures this season, the £16m-rated starlet has made an average of 2.9 tackles, 1.4 interceptions, 0.7 clearances and won 5.8 duels - at a success rate of 57% - per match - all while playing for a side who currently occupy sixth place in the Premier League standings.

Furthermore, Onana has also impressed going forwards, with the £100k-per-week youngster having scored one goal, registered one assist and created one big chance, in addition to taking an average of 1.1 shots, making 0.4 key passes, playing 1.3 long balls and completing 28.1 total passes - at a success rate of 85% - per outing.

These returns have seen the 21-year-old who French journalist Julien Laurens dubbed an "incredible talent" average an extremely impressive Sofascore statistical rating of 6.94, currently ranking him as Everton's fourth-best outfielder in the top flight of English football.

Further still, Laurens also clearly believes that Onana possesses huge scope for future development, with the journalist and broadcaster revealing in an interview cited by The Echo at the time of his move to Everton:

"I'm as excited as you and I'm not even an Everton fan! So I want to see him here. The good thing is that he really wanted to come to you and not go to West Ham United or other Premier League clubs that were pushing for him. Because he's an incredible talent, there is no doubt.

"Whether he is a big success straight away or whether you have to wait a little bit - I don't know. But he's got all the qualities to succeed in England. I think English football suits him perfectly and he suits English football perfectly in the sense that he's good on the ball, he's strong, he's intelligent, he's powerful - he's a [Aurelien] Tchouameni, he's a Paul Pogba bracket of player.

"The difference maybe [to Pogba] is that he's a bit more defensive-minded if you ask him to be, and do that kind of work. He's very happy, he's not reluctant to defend a lot. He can sit as the holding midfielder.

"You would lose a bit of what makes him quite special in the sense that he's got the power to do box-to-box, drive the ball and do things like that. But I think he can also be disciplined and be quite good defensively in 50-50s, in the air, in the duels, on the floor. All of that he can do, but I still feel his best role will be having a bit of freedom to run up and down the pitch."

As such, considering his impressive start to life in England, coupled with his potential for further development and the fact he is available for around half of Caicedo's £100m asking price, it would indeed appear as if Onana would represent something of a dream alternative to the Brighton wonderkid for Edu to get over the line in the remainder of the transfer window.