Arsenal want another winger in January, and the one they keep coming back to has just scored against Manchester City. The problem is that RB Leipzig have no reason at all to sell him in the middle of the season.
According to The Sun, Arsenal are tracking Antonio Nusa as they look for more firepower in attack, after their summer moves for Morgan Rogers and Vinicius Junior came to nothing. The 21-year-old Norway winger is flying, but the same report says a January deal will be very hard to pull off.
That fits a pattern. Nusa has been on Arsenal’s list since his Club Brugge days, and we wrote last week that the Gunners were serious about the Leipzig winger. What has changed is his form, and with it the price.
Why Leipzig won’t budge on Antonio Nusa in January
Leipzig see Nusa as a key player and do not want to lose him halfway through the campaign. They are under no financial pressure either, having sold Yan Diomande to Real Madrid for around £120m in the summer.
His contract runs until the summer of 2029, and Leipzig know several big clubs have been watching him. That is a strong hand. If Arsenal wait until summer 2027, he would still have two years left, so the German club would not be forced into a cut-price sale for at least another 12 months after that.
Leipzig are also tough sellers. They made Real Madrid work hard for Diomande, and anyone hoping to prise Nusa away in January would be paying a mid-season premium on top of an already big valuation.
The Man City night that pushed his price up
On Wednesday night Nusa showed exactly why the interest is growing. With Leipzig 2-1 down to City in the Champions League, he levelled in the 61st minute with a low finish across goal from Christopher Nkunku’s pass. Erling Haaland won it 3-2 for City 17 minutes later, but Nusa had been one of the best players on the pitch.
His Bundesliga numbers back it up. After eight matchdays he had four goals and six assists, making him the first player in the league to reach ten goal involvements this season and putting him level at the top of the assist charts. His coach Martín Demichelis called him “one of the best wingers in Europe right now” and added: “It’s difficult to stop him.”
That is a big jump. He had six goal involvements in the whole of 2024/25 and seven in 2025/26. This is the breakout season, and Leipzig know it.
Where does he fit in Arteta’s attack?
The need is obvious. Arsenal sold Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard in the summer, and Christos Tzolis, signed from Club Brugge for £34m, is the only new natural wide option. Eberechi Eze has been used more and more on the left, and he did the job there in Prague, but he is not an out-and-out winger.
On the other side, Bukayo Saka is still out, and Arteta has given a hopeful but vague update on his injury. Noni Madueke has been holding things together on both flanks. One more injury out wide and the cupboard looks very bare.
Nusa would give Arteta a direct, one-v-one winger who goes past people and now adds goals and assists. Martin Odegaard knows him well from the Norway squad too, which can only help when it comes to selling the move.
Would a summer deal make more sense?
Other reports say Arsenal are confident and that a deal could be worth around £45m, with Tottenham also admirers. But January is a reactive window. Arsenal have done business mid-season before, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Trossard, so it is not impossible.
Leipzig are not willing, and they do not need to be. Any January bid would have to beat the summer price by a distance, and the player would have to land in England mid-season and pick up Arteta’s demands straight away. Nusa is not the only Leipzig player on Arsenal’s radar either: they were the first club to scout Castello Lukeba, whose release clause is set to drop.
Verdict: Nusa to Arsenal is a summer job
We would love Nusa at the Emirates. He is exactly the sort of left-sided player this squad has been missing since the summer, and signing him before his price climbs again is smart business.
But January looks like a long shot. The sensible plan is to keep watching, keep the relationship warm, and be ready to move in the summer with a firm valuation, rather than paying a January premium to a club that knows how to sell. If Arsenal do want a winger this winter, it is far more likely to be someone else.
