Arsenal are ahead of Atletico Madrid in the race to sign Trabzonspor 18-year-old Abdülkadir Ömür, according to ex-Trabzonspor director Sadi Tekelioglu.

According to Tekelioglu, Arsenal are chasing the youngster, with Atletico Madrid the other side interested, but the Gunners have the advantage at this stage. The former Trabzonspor director said (via Metro): “Arsenal want to sign Abdülkadir.

“I heard that Atletico Madrid are interested in him as well. But Arsenal are ahead of them in the race to sign Ömür. Arsene Wenger does a good job when it comes to discovering young players.”

Ömür made his Turkish Super Lig debut last year when he was just 17, although he only played a total of 14 league minutes in 2016/17.

In the current campaign, the wide-midfielder has started to make his breakthrough, appearing in five of Trabzonspor’s first seven matches and assisting twice, including once against champions Besiktas.

If Tekelioglu’s quotes are to be believed, the player has already caught the attention of some of Europe’s top clubs, including Arsenal. Former Gunners’ academy graduate Oguzhan Özyakup plays in the Super Lig as well with Besiktas, but he was serving a suspension during the match against Trabzonspor so the two didn’t match up against each other.

Nonetheless, if Özyakup does talk to Ömür about a potential move, he has four years of experience with the Arsenal youth academy to tell Ömür about, as Oguzhan made his first senior start with the Gunners, and won the Premier Academy League twice, as well as the FA Youth Cup, before moving to Turkey.