Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Report: Arsenal Trying To Beat Tottenham To Signing Of £50m-Rated Midfielder

The Gunners are active in the transfer market and they could be about to upset their noisy neighbours with the pursuit of one of Pochettino’s prime targets. 

Arsenal are trying to beat Tottenham to the signing of Ross Barkley according to the London Evening Standard. Ronald Koeman has accepted Barkley is likely to leave and with the club looking to fund a huge move for Gylfi Sigurdsson, they could sell for as little as £25million – an amount that would be very cheap considering his age (23) and the current climate in the market.

Publically, Everton have slapped a £50million price tag on Barkley, but with one year on his deal remaining, the club appear to have accepted they will not be able to raise anywhere near that amount.

Something that could rule Spurs out of the race is the fact that the player reportedly wants well in excess of £100,000 per week for his next deal, something the club will be hesitant to approve considering their relatively small wage bill. Arsenal, on the other hand would likely be more willing to hand those kinds of figures to a player that might not even start.

Where would he fit in at Arsenal?

If Arsenal stick with their 3-4-2-1 formation, there’s only really two positions Barkley could play and that is the inside forwards / attacking midfielders. He doesn’t have the playing style to play in a midfield two or to play as a wing back. If Alexis Sanchez stayed, it’s hard to see Barkley managing many minutes on the pitch with the likes of Ozil and Alexis to compete with. If Barkley did arrive you’d think Wenger would be keen to shift the likes of Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott – who have both been linked with the exit door.

Arsenal’s interest in Barkley could be intensified if they did let Chambers, Wilshere and Walcott leave, as it would leave the Gunners short of homegrown players. Aged 23 Barkley still has a lot of unfulfilled potential and it’s possible that he could flourish under Arsene at The Emirates. The could be a saga that takes a while to unfold, and possibly be concluded towards the end of the window.

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