Arsenal are reportedly in a race with Manchester City and Real Madrid to sign teenage Genk midfielder Konstantinos Karetsas.

Karetsas only turned 17 last month but is already a Belgium under-21 international after impressing for the Jupiler Pro League leaders this season. The player broke into the first team at his boyhood club in February and made four appearances last season, assisting the only goal - for former Brighton and Hove Albion centre-forward Andi Zeqiri - in a 1-0 win over Royal Antwerp during May's champions' play-offs.

The attacking midfielder has played 17 times this season. Karetsas assisted once more versus Dender in September before scoring his first professional goal against Anderlecht earlier this month.

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That strike came less than two years after the player left the Brussels-based club to rejoin his hometown team. Karetsas spent three years at Anderlecht before returning to Genk in January, months after the sacking of long-time academy director Jean Kindermans.

The player's father, Vaios, who is Greek, mentioned Kindermans' situation when explaining that his son's departure was due to problems at the board level in a May interview with the Antwerp-based newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws . Days after Genk announced the signing of Karetsas, several Anderlecht supporter groups called for the club's president, Wouter Vandenhaute, to resign.

Karetsas Snr also said in that same interview they "thought it was too early" to move abroad at that time. The player's father added: "RB Leipzig, Milan and even Manchester City invited us several times to come and look; we didn't like it. The only team outside Genk where we had discussions was Ajax."

SPORT24 in Greece now credits Arsenal and Chelsea with interest in Karetsas but suggests it is increasingly with a view to a summer move rather than during the winter transfer window. football.london, though, understands links to the Blues are wide of the mark.

The same outlet reported in July that Real Madrid was considered the frontrunner for Karetsas. However, in early November, the player extended his contract until the summer of 2027, with his previous deal due to expire at the end of this season.