We don’t like bringing you bad news but…
It seems that both of Arsenal’s main targets may be heading to our Premier League rivals.
Jean Seri of Nice had been heavily linked with Arsenal in recent weeks, but reports now indicate that Liverpool are close to sealing a deal for the Ivorian. He’s a dynamic midfielder that had been dubbed as Santi Cazorla’s replacement in central midfield. The Gunners do have quality in central midfield, but there is a worry over the depth to the options in that area, with long term fitness concerns over the likes of Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla, it leaves Ramsey (also injury prone), Xhaka, Coquelin, and Elneny as the midfield options. It’s not ridiculously short, but with the amount of games Arsenal have coming up this season, you’d like another player in there. Wenger could now opt to promote Joe Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles – whom may both be used regularly in the Europa League this season.
The other player the club look set to miss out on is Monaco’s Thomas Lemar. It had been said publicly that Monaco would not sell their star midfielder Lemar, but it seems they will, for the right price. The same applies to Kylian Mbappe who also looks set to join PSG, ahead of Arsenal. It is now being said that United could hijack a deal for Lemar by bidding around £55million – which is likely to be enough to seal the deal.
You’d hope that the Gunners still want to make additions this summer and you’d hope that they have already identified alternatives to Seri and to Lemar – otherwise, why have we not got those deals done if other clubs are capable of doing so?
Julian Draxler is a possible alternative to Lemar, and the German international has been told he can leave PSG recently. Draxler is a powerful wide midfield option that would add another dimension to the Arsenal attack. With Ozil and Alexis possibly leaving for nothing in a years time, adding the 23-year-old now, whilst the is available could be a wise move.