Arsenal have a genuine interest in Brighton midfielder Yves Bissouma, making contact with his agent, but a summer transfer is more likely.

Football.London report that Arsenal are interested in signing Yves Bissouma, already making contact with his agent Michael N’Cho. However, they’re focusing on a creative midfield signing in the January transfer window.

A close friend of Bissouma’s reportedly confirmed the 24-year-old loves the Premier League and Arsenal in particular, and Bissouma already has close relationships with Nicolas Pepe and Gabriel Magalhaes from their time with Lille.

Arsenal see Bissouma as a potential long-term partner for Thomas Partey in midfield.

Bissouma’s agent already confirmed to journalist Jonathan Shrager last month that Arsenal were among the teams with a significant interest in the player. But as always, we should probably take a player’s agent’s words with a pinch of salt.

The Mali international is well known for his ball-winning, though his disciplinary record isn’t particularly strong. He has five yellow cards and one red so far this season.

Arsenal’s main focus is rightly on adding creativity at the moment, but you can see why they might be thinking of adding another deeper midfielder this summer.

Dani Ceballos will return to Real Madrid, and there’s little certainty around the futures of Mohamed Elneny and Granit Xhaka. With Joe Willock only making two league starts so far this season, it doesn’t seem like Mikel Arteta is ready to rely on him either.

Partey is nailed-on for regular games when he’s fully fit again, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Arsenal sign someone like Bissouma to play alongside him this summer.