Arsenal in pursuit of two surprising signings - African-rooted youngster and newly capped English stopper

It is safe to expect that the upcoming season will be an interesting one at the Emirates Stadium. They have a lot of plans and a lot of time to work on them, given that there is no European football in the red-and-white part of North London which should provide them room to work.

Team's ranks will see some of the players departing while plenty are rumoured to be coming in.

Among the ones arriving, two new names come as quite a surprise.

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Reportedly, Gunners are tracking Anderlecht midfield star Albert Sambi Lokonga and Brighton's centre defender and the latest addition to England national team, Ben White.

Arsenal had their worst season in recent memory - a lowly eighth place finish in the Premier League and failing to qualify for Europe for the first time in 26 years.

Expectedly, manager Mikel Arteta is aware that recruitment will be crucial for Arsenal to get closer to their rivals and return to the European competitions in years to follow.

With Granit Xhaka being linked with a move to Jose Mourinho's Roma, midfield has been identified as an area that needs strengthening.

After numerous talks of bringing in Malian Yves Bissouma and many more, Emirates side have been linked with Portugal and Wolves dynamo Ruben Neves, who is viewed as a direct replacement for the Swiss enforcer.

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Anderlecht's Lokonga is also on the club's radar, according to The Athletic.

Lokonga has already made 50 appearances in Belgium's top flight in the last two seasons and would add much-needed energy to the Arsenal midfield.

The 21-year-old earned his first call up to Belgium's senior squad this year and is on Roberto Martinez's standby list for the Euros. What works for Arsenal is that Anderlecht would surely ask a lot less that Wolves do for Neves, which is 49.3 million USD (5.2 billion USD).

Sambi Lokonga was born in Belgium and is of Congolese descent, and his brother Paul-José M'Poku is also a professional footballer - M'Poku currently plays as a winger for Al Wahda and the DR Congo national team.

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Norwich City's Emi Buendia joined Aston Villa instead of Arsenal to mark the first missed transfer target for the Gunners.

Along with strengthening the centre of the pitch, Arteta is looking into powering up the centre of the backline.

Allegedly, Arsenal have already contacted the Seagulls of Brighton over England's EURO 2020 newest add-on Ben White.

However, what the Londoners did not expect is the price tag of 70.5 million USD (7.6 billion KSH) for the 23-year-old.

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White's admirers are also Manchester United and Liverpool - which can be a huge factor in the negotiations.

He signed a new four-year Brighton deal last summer and Arsenal are calculating if they can work out a deal for White to fit in with their budget - after failing to qualify for Europe their finances are affected and also they also have a substantial wish list of players and the money needs to be spread across.

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Richard Garlick, new head of football operations at Emirates, will now work alongside technical director Edu to finalise a deal.

Garlick should handle the negotiating while Edu will be involved in the initial recruitment and contact stage with their transfer targets.