Legendary Arsenal defender Martin Keown reckons that Mikel Arteta should make a move for Wilfred Ndidi or Youri Tielemans rather than James Maddison.

The Gunners continue to be linked with Leicester City attacking midfielder Maddidon but his asking price thought to be in the region of 70 million pounds could prove to be a stumbling block to a deal.

A very young Arsenal side showed lack of leadership and experience as they were bullied by the Brentford players in their opening Premier League match of the season and ended up losing 2-0.

Keown has advised the Gunners hierarchy to prioritize the signing of a defensive-minded midfielder with international experience before the close of the transfer window.

In quotes relayed by Metro citing Stadium Astro, Keown stated : "The missing ingredient for Arsenal tonight was steel so I’m not sure Maddison is the player we should be going for.

"If I am going to Leicester, I’m going for Tielemans or Ndidi, I’m not going for Maddison because Arsenal need that type of player first.

"You have to build that structure to the team. They have [Emile] Smith Rowe, they have that creativity.

"You just want [Alexandre] Lacazette and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang back again. But I think the base of that team, we had a young debutant [Albert Sambi Lokonga] playing there tonight.

"But I’m looking at that as an area where Arsenal should be buying an international player.

"If you really want to make it happen, you have to be able to dictate games in that midfield and Arsenal at the moment, it is an area that really concerns me."

Ndidi, who is under contract at Leicester City until June 2024, is three games away from reaching a milestone of 150 appearances in the Premier League.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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