Leeds United face competition from Arsenal in the race to sign Stade Rennais’ Djaoui Cissé this summer.
The midfielder has managed to attract interest from Arsenal, Leeds United and several other clubs.
He graduated from the Ligue 1 side’s academy and made his way into their first team in 2024.
Since then, the Frenchman has made 38 appearances and 22 are from this season.
His Ligue 1 stats this season are as follows:
- Appearances: 21
- Starts: 12
- Total minutes: 959
- Minutes per game: 46
- Tackles per game: 1.5
- Possession won (final third): 0.3
- Ball recovered per game: 2.4
- Duels won per game: 2.7
Two months ago, Sport Witness covered claims from France that Daniel Farke’s side made contact over a summer move.
Arsenal join Leeds United and others
Fast forward to April and Media Foot now backs up the Whites when covering the latest on the Gunners.
Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen are pursuing Djaoui Cissé and have gathered necessary information about him. ‘There’s movement’ from England where Leeds United and Arsenal are the 22-year-old’s suitors.
The Elland Road club have already expressed their interest with his agent. These clubs will have to be wary of Arsenal because they ‘now enter the race’ to sign the Stade Rennais player.
Mikel Arteta seems to be impressed with the midfielder’s profile and potential and believes he would be a good fit for the Gunners. That’s all the report has to say about the north London club’s interest in the player desired by Leeds United and the Bundesliga duo.
Cissé and the Ligue 1 stance on a potential summer transfer isn’t mentioned in the report, and if the interest grows, Stade Rennais may have to brace for an approach.
Our take: Midfielder could struggle at Arsenal
Mikel Arteta now has Declan Rice, Mikel Merino, Martin Zubimendi and Christian Nørgaard as midfielders at his disposal.
Djaoui Cissé operates in the middle of the pitch and at times as a defensive midfielder.
If he were to move to the Emirates, the Stade Rennais man would find it difficult to get ahead of the current midfielder at Arsenal. He may not necessarily face the issue of getting regular minutes issue at Leeds United or the two German clubs.
His contract expires in 2030, and Transfer market now value him at €15m.
