Arsenal Competes with Man Utd for Shakhtar Starlet Elias

Arsenal’s summer hasn’t slowed since lifting the Community Shield. Now they are stepping into another battle – this time with Manchester United – for one of Europe’s sharpest young forwards.

Fresh from a composed 3-0 dismantling of Manchester City in Cardiff, Mikel Arteta’s side are counting down to Friday night and the start of their Premier League title defence against newly-promoted Coventry City at the Emirates. The champions look settled. They don’t look finished.

Bruno Guimaraes has already arrived from Newcastle United to stiffen the midfield and give Arsenal another organiser and enforcer in the middle of the pitch. The next target is clear: a high-end forward to round off the window before it closes on September 1. Any faint hope of prising Vinicius Junior from Real Madrid disappeared with his new contract in Spain, so the Gunners have turned their gaze elsewhere.

That gaze has landed in Ukraine.

Shakhtar’s Brazilian jewel

According to TEAMTalk, Arsenal are now firmly in the race for Shakhtar Donetsk attacker Kaua Elias Nogueira – known simply as Elias – joining Manchester United and a clutch of other elite clubs tracking his rise.

Shakhtar picked him up from Fluminense in February 2025 for £14.5m, a move that already looks like a bargain. Since then, the 20-year-old has hit 15 goals in 49 appearances for the Ukrainian champions, flashing the kind of versatility and penalty-box instinct that has become Shakhtar’s trademark export.

His latest statement came on August 3. Shakhtar hammered Kudrivka 5-1 in the Ukrainian top flight, and Elias walked away with a perfect hat-trick: one with his left foot, one with his right, one with his head. It wasn’t just the numbers, it was the authority. The movement. The timing.

Arena Lviv was packed with scouts that day. Around 10 potential suitors, the report claims, were in attendance to watch him dismantle Kudrivka, with Arsenal and Manchester United among those taking detailed notes. The message was unmistakable: if anyone wants him, they will not be alone at the negotiating table.

Shakhtar, as ever, know what they have. The club are understood to value Elias at around £30m, and there is a growing feeling that his time in Ukraine is entering its final chapter. The expectation is that he will move either in this window or after the 2026-27 season, with AC Milan and Porto also in the queue.

Do Arsenal or Man Utd actually need him now?

That is where the story gets interesting. For all the excitement around Elias, breaking straight into the starting XI at either Arsenal or Manchester United would be a brutal ask this season.

Arteta already has Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz as senior options in central attacking roles. Both offer different profiles, both are established, and both have the manager’s trust after a title-winning campaign. They are not easy men to dislodge.

At Old Trafford, Michael Carrick can lean on Benjamin Sesko, Slovenia’s leading light, as his primary striker. United need goals, but they also need stability, and Sesko has been brought in to shoulder that responsibility.

Drop Elias into either environment and he risks becoming the next bright talent parked on the bench, waiting for minutes that never quite arrive.

That is the crux of his decision. The talent is obvious. The interest is real. The money will follow. What he chooses next will define his trajectory.

If he opts for Arsenal, he walks into a title-winning dressing room, intense competition and Champions League-level demands from day one. If he picks United, he joins a project still trying to reassert itself at the very top, with a different kind of pressure but no guarantee of game time.

Or he could take a different route entirely. AC Milan and Porto offer strong platforms, European football and a clearer path to regular starts. For a 20-year-old forward still sharpening his game, that matters.

The race for Elias is not just about who pays Shakhtar’s asking price. It is about who can convince him that he will play, grow and lead the line, not just warm up on the touchline.

For a player on the verge of his first major move, that choice may prove more important than the badge on the shirt.