Arsenal agree a fee with Leicester for 16-year-old Jeremy Monga
One of English football’s most sought-after teenagers is heading to the Emirates: Arsenal have agreed a fee with Leicester for 16-year-old winger Jeremy Monga.
Jun 24, 2026
Arsenal have agreed a fee with Leicester City for Jeremy Monga, beating a long line of suitors to one of England’s most coveted teenagers. The Premier League champions have settled on a package in the region of £10 million for the 16-year-old winger, and the move is now close to being wrapped up.
Monga is not a typical academy punt. He has already played 37 times for Leicester’s first team and holds a couple of records most players never get near. He made his top-flight debut against Newcastle at 15 years and 271 days, which makes him the second-youngest player in Premier League history behind Arsenal’s own Ethan Nwaneri. He then became the youngest goalscorer in Championship history, finding the net against Preston North End in August 2025.
Why Arsenal moved quickly
The competition for him was fierce. Reports linked as many as eight clubs to the winger, including Manchester United, Newcastle, Leeds, Roma, Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig, so Arsenal settling the fee early looks like the decisive move. Monga’s preference for north London did the rest.
What they are buying is a direct, quick wide forward who likes running at defenders, the kind of profile Mikel Arteta has leaned on with Bukayo Saka and, more recently, with Nwaneri. Adding another teenager who already has senior minutes behind him fits Arsenal’s habit of trusting young players rather than waiting for them to arrive as finished products.
What happens next
At 16, Monga is unlikely to walk straight into the first team. The expectation is that he either spends the 2026-27 season on loan or works through the under-21 setup, building toward a senior role rather than being thrown in straight away. For a player this young, that patience is the point.
The deal still needs the final paperwork, but with the fee agreed and the player keen, the hard part is done. For Leicester, back-to-back relegations that have dropped them all the way into League One make holding on to a talent like Monga close to impossible, and £10m for a 16-year-old is tidy business even if it stings to lose him.