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Arsenal Transfer Rumor: £43.3 million bid for Copa America goat?

Reports have Arsenal making a kind ask of Napoli that has since been rebuffed. Color us skeptical.

By Phil West
At least his facepalm game is strong.
At least his facepalm game is strong.
Getty Images/Getty Images

Yesterday, one of our favorite transfer window rumor mongers, beIN Sports correspondent and CNN/Gazzetta dello Sport contributor Tancredi Palmeri, busted through the signal-to-noise ratio of Transfer Window Twitter with this suspense-builder:

Followed, 23 minutes later, by this:

Skeptical Twitter responded thusly:

But, alas, we were off to the transfer window races -- and over the next few hours, the story morphed into the bid being for £43.4 million (which is €60 million), courtesy of Metro, and then a various smattering of reports that Napoli's valuation of Higuain is a guffaw-inducing £67 million (or €93.4 million), capped off by this excellent Amy Lawrence article in the Guardian talking about the paucity of elite strikers, featuring this tidbit involving your favorite manager:

Midway through last season, Arsène Wenger observed there are not enough predators emerging outside of South America. "If we look across the world of football, then South America is the only continent to develop strikers today," he said, estimating that "at least 80%" of the best attackers come from South America. Wenger enthused about the fighting qualities and determined self expression that are still part of the picture for young players in that region.

Remember, before Higuain transferred from Real Madrid to Napoli in the summer of 2013, Arsenal was allegedly in for him and allegedly very nearly landed him. Wenger's comment several months back about looking for a 15-goal-per-year striker will likely feed transfer rumors involving target men all summer long. Higuain has, to his credit, been scoring at a goal-every-other-game clip with his two seasons in Italy, but Higuain was also last seen missing a point-blank shot and then skying his penalty shootout kick in the Copa America finals. What is then more ridiculous: A £43.3 million bid by a team who probably won't spend more than £50-60m in the transfer window this summer, or Napoli's £67 million valuation?

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