Arsenal transfer news and rumors roundup

For whatever reason, the transfer rumor silly season went from 0 to 60 today, and there are no shortage of Arsenal links. Perhaps it’s tied to the 2019-20 men’s season finally finishing yesterday with Bayern Munich besting PSG 1-0 in the Champions League Final.

If I were to do an individual post for every link, the site would be flooded with a bunch of “there’s not much to this” posts. I’d run out of different ways to say the same thing. And I’d probably go crazy trying to keep pace. Instead, I’m going to start a periodic catch-all post to cover more rumors in one place. So here we go.

Current Arsenal Players

Hector Bellerin aside, I wouldn’t be too upset to see any of the players linked with a move away from the Emirates this window go. Arsenal need to rebuild the roster, and part of that is moving on from guys who don’t fit Mikel Arteta’s system. And remember, every player has a price.

• Matteo Guendouzi: almost certain to be leaving Arsenal this summer and should generate a decent amount of cash for the club to reinvest. He has reportedly been offered to a number of different clubs, including Atletico Madrid and Lyon, as part of cash + player swap deals, but so far, those approaches have been rebuffed. He’s been linked with a move to PSG as well.
• Lucas Torreria: linked to a move back to Italy with AC Milan and Torino reportedly interested. Torreira has tumbled down the pecking order under Mikel Arteta, likely because he isn’t good enough on the ball for how Arteta wants to play. That’s not a knock on Torreira, mind you. He’s a very good #6, but Arteta’s system calls for two #6/#8 hybrids.
• Mesut Ozil: all’s quiet on the Ozil front. He had briefly been linked with a move to Turkey, but his exorbitant weekly salary remains a stumbling block for any potential move, be it loan or sale. Personally, I’m holding out hope that his exclusion from the Arsenal side during the restart was somehow tied to orders from Raul Sanllehi and that with him gone, Ozil may no longer be persona non grata.
• Alexandre Lacazette: one of the players Arsenal could sell for significant money to help fund other transfers this window. He’s been linked to Atletico Madrid and to Juventus.
• Ainsley Maitland-Niles: appears to be headed to Wolves for £20M.
• Hector Bellerin: “has been offered” to PSG, but whether the offer came from his agent, Arsenal, or was made up, isn’t clear.
• Sead Kolasinac: linked with a return to Schalke, possibly on a loan. But the German side reportedly don’t want to pay more than £50,000 a week, which is a problem because Kolasinac makes more than three times that. Arsenal would likely have to subsidize his weekly wage to make a loan work.
• Sokratis: linked to Italian clubs, including Roma and Napoli. Arsenal are likely to move on from a centerback (or two) this summer, and he’s the guy I’d care least about losing. It would be something if Arsenal pipped Napoli for Gabriel Magalhaes then turn around and sell them Sokratis.
• Calum Chambers: linked with a £12M move to Fulham. I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of Chambers or Holding move this window. Their homegrown status and that they are British make them valuable to lesser Premier League clubs.
• Rob Holding: linked to Leeds. See Chambers, Calum.
• Shkodran Mustafi: a few whispers of interest from Napoli, but with his injury, Arteta’s praise for his play, and his improvement under the new manager, I doubt he moves.
• Emi Martinez: has said that he wants more playing time at Arsenal or a transfer. With Bernd Leno’s injury status still unclear, I doubt Martinez is going anywhere.

Rumored Transfer Targets

As always with transfer links, take them with a grain of salt. Other than Gabriel, which seems certain at this point, and Partey, which David Ornstein is all over, I’d cover anything from a worthy-enough source in it’s own post. There’s also not much more on most of these beyond “Arsenal are interested” which, okay, great. Without more information, it’s nearly impossible to separate the real links from the clubs/agents calling up their media buddies to generate buzz and raise prices. The Gunners don’t have much money to spend without selling players, so most of these aren’t happening.

• Gabriel Magalhães: the 22-year old Brazilian centerback completed an Arsenal medical today, so it’s a just a question of when he puts pen to paper. Arsenal will pay Lille €26m + €4m in add-ons for the move. It’s a good piece of business for the Gunners.
• Thiago Alcantara: Mikel Arteta reportedly phoned the Bayern Munich central midfielder today. He’d been heavily linked to Liverpool, but it looks as if Arsenal are late entrants to the race for his services. Bayern reportedly want £23M for him. He’s 2 years older than Thomas Partey, but significantly cheaper. For a guy needed for 2 or 3 seasons to hold the club over during a rebuild, he may make more sense.
• Dani Ceballos: a re-loan or permanent move for the Real Madrid midfielder remains high on Arsenal’s priority list this window. The Spanish giants recently made noise about wanting him to complete a preseason with the club before making a decision, but I think that was more a negotiating tactic to drive up the price. AC Milan are apparently trying to pip the Gunners on Ceballos, but I think this one gets done for Arsenal.
• Thomas Partey: he’s still Arsenal’s #1 target according to David Ornstein, but Atletico Madrid are holding firm to their demand that the Gunners pay his £45M release clause up front, in full. Without additional sales, the Gunners don’t have that kind of cash on hand. Selling Ainsley Maitland Niles and a couple of the other guys discussed above might get the Gunners there.
• Houssem Aouar: Arsenal reportedly had a Matteo Guendouzi + cash offer rebuffed by Lyon for their talisman midfielder. They’ve slapped a €50M+ price tag on him to boot. Depending on the report, he prefers either Juventus or Liverpool to Arsenal, anyway. I don’t think this one is going to happen.
• Malang Sarr: he’s a 21-year old centerback, available on a free, and has 119 first team appearances at Nice to his name. Arsenal would be crazy not to at least kick the tires on him, which they have reportedly done. He’s garnering interest from around Europe, and who knows what effect the Gabriel signing will have on his desire to come to Arsenal. But the Gunners should definitely try! Perhaps his former coach Patrick Vieira could put in a good word.
• Philippe Coutinho: the buzz around a move to Arsenal has died down of late, and new Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman is supposedly keen keep him at Camp Nou next season. I’ll admit, however, I’m higher on him after seeing him (admittedly in garbage time) for Bayern in the Champions League.
• Boubakary Soumare

I’m sure I’ve missed some because everybody with a blue check mark on Twitter (and many people without them, to be honest) are peddling transfer rumors this time of year. Feel free to drop any others you’ve seen in the comments!