Based on Unai Emery’s comments a few weeks ago, you’d be forgiven for being very negative about this transfer window at Arsenal. Aaron Ramsey has signed a pre-contract at Juventus and nobody has joined the club, despite season ending injuries now to Danny Welbeck, Rob Holding and Hector Bellerin. When you factor in the Gunners were already short in wide areas and in central defence, it makes the squad look even thinner.
If these deals go through then Arsenal will allow for Ramsey to join Juventus this month, for a £10million fee, the report says.
27-year-old Rodriguez has played just 484 league minutes this season and would more than likely welcome an opportunity to play more regularly, especially in his prime years. Bayern Munich would seemingly welcome ending the loan deal early considering the fact that they are not really playing him, so despite the deal being complex, it has potential.
Fuel was added to the fire today as James Rodriguez missed training. Should he arrive, it would also cast further doubt on the future of Mesut Ozil. The German plays a similar role to James and it’s unlikely that both would be needed in the squad.
James would certainly bring more goals to the team than Mesut Ozil historically has, however he does similarly suffer from fitness issues and regularly misses games due to injury, so a loan deal would make sense initially.
It also makes sense to let Ramsey go early for a small fee. If he’s not going to be here next season then the club should cash in and play players who will be at the club for the long term. It would also help the club financially to pocket £10million for a player who is worth nothing in 6 months.