Saka jumbo deal near as Man City eye Akanji

Arsenal are confident that Nigerian-born Bukayo Saka will sign a new long-term contract at Arsenal.

The club have offered the 20-year-old winger, whose present contract runs until 2024, a significant increase on his £70,000-a-week wage, meaning he would become one of the club’s top earners, alongside players such as Thomas Partey and Gabriel Jesus who earn more than £150,000 a week.

Mikel Arteta, the manager, is keen for Saka to sign a new deal before the issue becomes a distraction and believes it will happen. “Yes, I share his [Arteta’s confidence],” Saka said.

Manchester City and Liverpool are closely monitoring the situation in case Saka became available but the Englishman is particularly close to Arteta and has credited him for his development.

“I feel like he’s always there for me, he knows when to speak to me, it’s not too much but it’s not too little and the different bits of advice he gives me are special and it makes such a difference,” he said.

Saka was the club’s top scorer with 11 goals last season but he is yet to find the net in four league games. “I feel, like, of course there’s still aspects where I need to improve and learn and each game I learn which positions I could have been, where I could have been to score, why I didn’t get a certain amount of shots or crosses and stuff like this,” he said. “I’m growing, going from strength to strength each game and Fulham was my best game yet and I want to kick on from that now.”

Arteta is concerned about Partey’s thigh injury which caused him to miss the match with Fulham on Saturday.

The midfielder was ruled out at the end of last season by a similar injury and has undergone a scan and is expected to be out for two weeks. “Similar area, hopefully not as bad,” Arteta said.

Elneny, also a defensive midfielder, has a hamstring injury and Arsenal fear scans may show he requires longer out then Partey. If both midfielders’ injuries are considered substantial the club could make a late move for Youri Tielemans.

Meanwhile, Manchester City have launched a surprise bid of £15 million to sign Manuel Akanji, the Switzerland and Borussia Dortmund centre back.

City appeared to have finished their transfer business a couple of weeks ago when they signed the left back Sergio Gómez from Anderlecht, but the Premier League champions have gone back into the market and are confident of making Akanji their sixth summer signing.

City held positive talks with Dortmund this week and are expected to complete the signing of the 27-year-old before the transfer window closes on Thursday. Akanji is expected to sign a five-year deal worth about £180,000 per week, including bonuses.

Leicester City had been favourites to sign Akanji, but a move to City is preferred by the right-footed, 6ft 2in defender.

Akanji told the German club in the summer that he did not want to extend his contract, which expires next summer, as he wanted a new challenge. Dortmund had offered him a new long-term contract worth about £160,000 per week but he rejected it and they bought Nico Schlotterbeck, 22, from Freiburg as a replacement.

City have this summer signed Akanji’s former team-mate Erling Haaland, as well as the striker Julian Álvarez, Gómez, the former Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips, and the goalkeeper Stefan Ortega for a total of £126 million.

Akanji, who joined Dortmund from Basel for £15 million four years ago, started 33 of Dortmund’s 45 matches last season.

Pep Guardiola, the City manager, decided to make a move for Akanji after injuries in recent weeks to his defenders. Aymeric Laporte, the Spain centre back, is out until the end of September with a knee injury and Nathan Aké is absent with a minor knock.

Guardiola has John Stones and Rúben Dias fit, so in total the Catalan will have five centre-backs when they are all available.

When asked on Tuesday afternoon if he could rule out any more signings, Guardiola said: “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Akanji is a fast centre back who is also a good passer of the ball. He is comfortable using either foot and has been deployed in both centre-back positions. Akanji’s father — a big fan of the former Newcastle United striker Obafemi Martins, which explains why his son’s middle name is Obafemi — is a financial expert from Nigeria and his mother is a former tennis player.

Three years ago, he revealed that he supported City’s arch rivals, Manchester United, and Real Madrid as a child.

“Aside from Real, Manchester United were my favourite club,” Akanji said. “So at some point my idol was Cristiano Ronaldo. He impressed me with his performances.”

Before Wednesday’s match at home against Nottingham Forest, Guardiola admitted that he plans to rest Haaland at some stage in the next couple of weeks.

“He is 22 years old, he’s young and recovers well, but it was four days between these games, then it’s three days until Aston Villa and three to Sevilla, then three or four days for Tottenham. Maybe that will be different [then]. With travel, recovery is much worse,” Guardiola said.

The City manager believes that he has a ready-made replacement in Álvarez, who joined from River Plate for £14.1 million earlier this summer.

“He is so strong, fast, and has an incredible sense of goal,” Guardiola said. “He reads the game really well.

“The most important thing is that he is open to help all the time. And when that happens everything is going well and everything is going to happen in his career. He didn’t come for a few weeks or months. He came here for many years and we hope he can succeed.”