Antonio Nusa just passed his Arsenal transfer audition with flying colours

While Arsenal's fans, players and coaches were focused on their Champions League clash with Slavia Prague on Wednesday night, the club's scouts may have had their eyes elsewhere.

The Gunners successfully navigated a tricky second half in the Czech Republic to emerge with all three points. This match coincided with Manchester City's 3-2 win over RB Leipzig at the Red Bull Arena.

An own goal from Castello Lukeba and strikes from Enzo Fernandez and Erling Haaland earned Enzo Maresca's outfit the three points, cancelling out goals from Ridle Baku and notably, Antonio Nusa.

Nusa has been loosely linked with Arsenal for some time. Various reports suggest that the Gunners are primed to make a move for the Norwegian, and this speculation has heated up to the extent that a reporter from the Scandinavian country asked Mikel Arteta about the player in a recent interview.

"Yes," the Spaniard replied when asked if he'd watched Nusa.

"We see a lot of players and you guys [Norway] have a great national team."

Arteta's coy response gives very little away, although credible journalists have verified that Nusa is, at the very least, someone Arsenal have been observing closely over the last year.

The Gunners' recruitment department certainly would've been glued to the 21-year-old's performance against City on Wednesday night.

Antonio Nusa proved that he could be the man for Arsenal with City performance

Playing in the Bundesliga every week, Nusa has few opportunities to showcase that he is ready for the top level. The German first division is miles behind the Premier League at the moment, and thus, shining in it isn't necessarily an indication that you're good enough for England's top clubs - just ask the likes of Timo Werner, Florian Wirtz and Jadon Sancho.

Nusa's Bundesliga numbers this season are through the roof - he's scored four goals and provided six assists in just eight appearances thus far - but this isn't sufficient evidence for Arsenal to commit a £60 million outlay to bring him to the Emirates.

When games like City in the Champions League come around, this is when Nusa needs to perform to flaunt his talents to the on-watching scouts from top clubs. Arsenal no doubt would have been represented in the crowd inside the Red Bull Arena, and those analysts in attendance would've been impressed.

Not only did he score, dispatching an effort perfectly into the corner off his weaker left foot, but he ran City ragged for the 73 minutes he was on the pitch. Creating four chances, taking two shots and completing two dribbles, it was a productive evening for the Norway international, against a very good standard of opposition.

He needs to develop his game in certain areas, particularly in regards to mastering his end product, but this was an extremely encouraging showing.

If this was a game Arsenal were placing significant emphasis on when weighing up whether to make a move for Nusa, he passed this audition with flying colours.

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