A few weeks ago I wrote an article suggesting that Arsenal should sign Serge Aurier before the beginning of the World Cup. I didn’t hold out much hope of that happening and now, with the World Cup group stages at an end we don’t seem any closer to signing him than we did before.
He has performed well for the Ivory Coast so far and for a 21 year old, has looked more than competent on world football’s biggest stage. As the tournament progresses, he seems to get better and better. The Ivory Coast have been knocked out of the competition, but Aurier’s performances will already have attracted attention.
His defensive work is as good as it should be for a modern day full back and he offers a lot going forward. He looks to get forward and has a very good cross, which allows him to put the ball in to dangerous areas. For a striker like Olivier Giroud he would be a dream to play with.
The problem is, as I mentioned in my earlier article, his displays are going to do one thing to his price tag. Raise it. But, if Arsène is seriously interested in him, I have no doubt that he is currently in talks with both his agent and Toulouse regarding a transfer.
Even if we are the only team in contention Toulouse will be entitled to increase the amount they want for him. If this does happen, the apparent bickering that is currently taking place concerning his price will look incredibly petty.
It is reported that Toulouse want £10million for the right back, whereas Arsenal are only willing to pay £8million. I know that £2million is nothing to sniff at, but for a club like Arsenal it would be foolish to miss out, or end up paying more, when £10million is a steal anyway.
Of course, newspaper reports regarding transfers are rarely accurate, and it is possible that Arsenal have pretty much got a deal in place for the defender. It could also be possible that there is no real interest in him, and that Arsenal are looking elsewhere.
There have been significant developments in our attempts to sign Mathieu Debuchy from Newcastle for a fee reported to be in the region of £7.9million. If we do sign Debuchy, it still wouldn’t be a bad idea to sign Aurier as well. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Carl Jenkinson has much of a future at the club and Hector Bellerin needs to go out on loan to get some game time. It is highly unlikely that Arsène will opt to bring in both Debuchy and Aurier, but the two would offer a great blend of youth and experience.
Arsène hasn’t mentioned anything about Serge Aurier in the media, and he is notorious for keeping his cards close to his chest. It is frustrating as an Arsenal fan in the transfer window. For 99% of the window we have no idea what’s going on, but once again we’re going to have to ride it out and trust that Wenger knows what he’s doing.