Arsenal face tight January deadline to complete Moises Caicedo deal amid coy Brighton stance

Arsenal will be hoping to secure the services of Moises Caicedo before tomorrow’s deadline day as Mikel Arteta aims to bolster his midfield options

Arsenal are expected to face a hectic end to the January transfer window. The Gunners remain keen on bolstering the midfield options within Mikel Arteta’s squad as they look to fulfil their Premier League title charge.

Two players have already been secured this month with Leandro Trossard and Jakub Kiwior arriving from Brighton and Spezia. However, with the north Londoners aiming to secure their first league title in 19 years, investing in a long-term midfielder replacement is the priority.

Moises Caicedo has been made Edu Gasper’s number one target and has already been the subject of a £65million bid – which was rejected by Brighton. The Ecuador international was left out of the Seagulls’ 2-1 win over Brighton on Sunday afternoon after releasing a statement of his desire to leave the club and speculation surrounding his future has intensified following Roberto De Zerbi’s comments.

“It’s already difficult for me to be a coach. To be a coach and chairman is too much,” the Brighton boss said.

“It’s already difficult for me to be a coach. To be a coach and a chairman would be too difficult but [Moises] Caicedo is a very, very good guy. I can understand because when you are 21 and you receive a request from a big, big team that are playing in Europe, I can understand,” said De Zerbi

“I would like for him to finish the season with us but we are ready to go forward without him. I think I need some players in some positions. I spoke a lot of times with Tony [Bloom], he knows my opinion very well, because we are a good team but we can improve also from the transfer market window.”

As the transfer window edges closer to its closure, football.london provides you with all the key information on when Arsenal need to complete any late deals. The deadline for transfers is 11pm on Tuesday evening, like every window.

However, there are often aspects of a transfer negotiation which fails to be completed before the deadline. Majority of the time, these deals are sealed as late as 1am following the processing of a deal sheet. The deal sheet has to be submitted to the relevant governing bodies by 11pm for the deal to go through past the deadline.

You may be wondering, what is a deal sheet? An important process of a transfer deal, a deal sheet allows clubs to prove that a deal has been agreed between both clubs. It can only be submitted between 9pm-11pm and once a deal sheet has been submitted, the relevant governing body can ratify the transfer to allow the player to confirm his move.

In layman terms, it grants clubs ‘extra time’ to get the deal done. Should the sheet be submitted in the two-hour period, all the documentation must be fully completed in order for it to be allowed.

In Arsenal’s case of Caicedo, should a deal not be completed by 11pm on Tuesday, the correct documents must be submitted to allow for both parties to iron out the finer details up until 1am.