Arsenal have £60m Moises Caicedo transfer bid rejected by Brighton as Gunners look to beat Chelsea and Liverpool to star

BRIGHTON have rejected Arsenal’s £60million bid for midfielder Moises Caicedo.

Now the League leaders are weighing up how much they are prepared to pay for the Ecuador international to get a deal over the line before next week’s transfer deadline.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta admitted this week: “We need more cover in midfield but it’s pretty complicated to do that in this market.”

But he does not want to go for the rest of the season with only Albert Sambi Lokonga to cover for Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka.

And with Mo Elneny facing a long lay-off after suffering a knee injury, Arteta is stepping up his search for one more signing this month to give his squad the depth to maintain their title challenge.

But Brighton are not going to give up 21-year-old Caceido without a fight and have already turned down an offer of £55million from Chelsea.

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The south coast club have a history of holding out for the full asking price and refused to enter into negotiations before selling Ben White, Marc Cucurella and Yves Bissouma in the past couple of years.

And it is understood that they could be demanding as much as £100million for Caicedo, who cost them just £4.5million when they bought him from Ecuadorian club Independiente del Valle two years ago.

Whether Arsenal would be willing to go that high remains to be seen having only just signed Leandro Trossard from Brighton for an initial £21million plus up to £5million in add-ons.

They have also bought Polish defender Jakub Kiwior £17.5million from Spezia with the potential for a further £3.5million.

But Arteta has been given the green light to spend big this month and selling clubs are aware that they were willing to pay as much as £88million for winger Mykhailo Mudryk before he recently signed for Chelsea.

Everton’s Amadou Onana and Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi are both being monitored as potential alternatives if Arsenal can’t get Caicedo.

But they are expected to make at least one improved bid for the tough-tackling Ecuadorian World Cup star and are still hopeful a deal can be struck before the window closes next Tuesday.