Sources: Arsenal pull plug on Maddison deal after latest swap offer rejected to pursue alternative signing
Arsenal have pulled the plug on their pursuit of James Maddison after Leicester City knocked back their latest swap offer, Football Insider can reveal.
The Gunners have submitted multiple bids for the playmaker this summer in an attempt to lure him to London.
But an Arsenal source has told Football Insider the club have now walked away from the transfer and are pursuing alternative targets.
Chief among those is last season's loanee Martin Odegaard, who Mikel Arteta's side are working to sign from Real Madrid.
Arsenal are hopeful they can take advantage of Real's cash problems to land the left-footed attacking midfielder for a cut-price fee.
Talks are underway over a potential deal that could be worth £40million including add-ons, less than the Spanish giants' £50m valuation.
Arteta had hoped to lure Maddison in this window after making him a top target to add creativity to his team.
Leicester value their star man at more than £70million, which has made a deal difficult to agree.
Arsenal have suggested a number of players in part-exchange and the latest makeweights are attacker Reiss Nelson and versatile midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
But Leicester do not want either of them and have made it clear that a cash-only deal is what would tempt them.
Maddison has been targeted for his proven Premier League pedigree as well as ability to create chances from tight spaces.
His 118 Leicester games have yielded 27 goals and 20 assists.
That included 11 goals and 10 assists from 42 matches in all competition last season, when Leicester also finished fifth in the Premier League.