Arsenal eye Bayern Munich wonderkid

Stuart Telford

• 11 Apr 2023 17:08 BST
• 3 min read

Arsenal are tracking Ryan Gravenberch's situation at Bayern Munich according to reports in Germany.

Gravenberch looked like one of the most exciting young midfielders in world football in his time at Ajax, and there was significant excitement when Bayern beat Manchester United to his signature last summer.

The record Bundesliga champions paid their Dutch equivalents €18.5 million for Gravenberch's services, and promised him significant playing time at the Allianz Arena, but that has simply never arrived.

READ: Man Utd obsessing over wrong Dutchman? Ex-Ajax star can be better than De Jong

Gravenberch has started just four games in all competitions for Bayern as Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka have dominated the central midfield positions, and he looks increasingly likely to follow Marcel Sabitzer in pursuing a route out of the club.

Sabitzer joined Manchester United on loan in January, and reportedly wants to stay.

'Arsenal monitoring Gravenberch'

"News [on] Gravenberch: Arsenal is monitoring him and his situation at Bayern, but no negotiations yet," Sky Germany's Florian Plettenberg tweeted.

"Lots of competition with [Martin] Odegaard, [Granit] Xhaka, [Thomas] Partey, Jorginho, but nevertheless, he could get more playing time there. Now all depends on [Thomas] Tuchel."

READ: Arsenal's five most valuable players

While Gravenberch would indeed have competition for a midfield place at Arsenal, the Gunners' pursuit of Brighton's Moises Caicedo in January - they had a £70m offer turned down - is testament to the fact that they want more strength in depth in the position.

Tuchel's Bayern career is only three games old, meanwhile, and whilst that might not be enough to judge Gravenberch's future on, he is yet to start a game under the former Chelsea manager.

Gravenberch is valued at €54.7m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm - owing in part due to the fact that the Dutch international is still just 20 years of age and under contract until June 2027 - so Bayern can expect to make a profit on the player.

As well as Arsenal, United retain an interest, whilst Tottenham Hotspur has also scouted Gravenberch when he was at Ajax. A Premier League bidding war is exactly what Bayern would want.