Does this mean Higuain to Arsenal transfer is off?

Things are not looking good for Arsenal, on the striker front at least, as this week has already seen the Arsenal fans´ hopes of completing the signing of two reported transfer targets dashed. But after Jackson Martinez was reported to be joining La Liga club Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund declared that they would not sell Aubameyang, I was hoping that perhaps this would focus Arsene Wenger´s sights on Gonzalo Higuain.

Well that hope did not last long, Gooners, because a report in the Evening Standard has revealed that Napoli have all but destroyed our chances of finally getting the Argentina international.

Despite rumours in the media suggesting that the Serie A club´s failure to get into the Champions League as well as the departure of their manager Rafa Benitez for Real Madrid would lead to Higuain moving on, Napoli released a statement declaring that any club wanting their star striker would have to pay the full value of his release clause and when you hear just how big that amount is, you will understand why Arsenal fans have a snowball´s chance in hell of seeing Higuain in the famous red and white.

The statement said, “Napoli are keen to make an official clarification based on some newspapers’ claims in articles about the potential transfer of Higuain.

“The club stresses that the Argentine has an existing contract clause of €94,736,000 [£67 million].

“No bids below that figure will be accepted, those who want the player will have to match that valuation.”

I know that Wenger has been willing to spend more money in recent transfer windows and the club has given the boss more money to spend, but there is no way that he would go anywhere near that amount for a player that he thought was overpriced when Napoli paid Real Madrid 40 million euros, according to Wikipedia, a couple of years ago. So where does this leave Arsenal and our hopes of adding the firepower we need to make the next step up?

Tags Napoli Wenger

40 Comments

      1. 1) read the article…67mil pound not 94.5
        2) big old LOL if you think you’d get more than Messi’s boots for that
        3) can fans please stop hanging on every word of Presidents/Managers who put on a front for their clubs?

        Higuain, if sold, will not be sold for 67mil….if anyone believes he will I have some magic beans to sell and will do a good deal.

  1. Kinda Off topic:

    If you had the choice of signing a world class striker or a world class DM, which position do you feel we need more? Cant have both.

    thumbs up for striker and thumbs down for DM

    1. Depends on the player. I think Suarez would have been perfect. Now id say Cavani or Reus would add more to our team or our teams chances than another holding player would.

    1. Exactly.
      You know why there are no Messi to Arsenal rumours flaring around.

      It’s because no-one is stupid enough to believe it could happen. So they go for every Tom, dick and Harry apart from him and Ronaldo to suck you in.

      There is gonna be a lot of dissapointed people on here come Sep 1st that is for sure as I see no DM, or ST being brought in.

      #stopKiddingYourself
      #beenHereBefore
      #closeButNoCigar

  2. Wow!! Finally admin’s eyes are open to reality. Great Great Day day for Gooners.

    On a rather unimportant note, Cech is having a medical today but Admin’s attainment of enlightenment has shadowed this news.

    1. Agreed Invincibles – is kind of strange that perhaps the most significant transfer of the window so far for any PL team is relegated to a thing of indifference by some. I guess it is partly because GKs not so sexy for some. All the chat about needing an apex predator centre forward to win the PL is all well and good – but look back through all the previous PL winners and there is an even stronger correlation in requiring a top quality GK. Probably the worst quality GKs to win the PL have been Flowers, Hart and Lehmann – but still all decent. And yes some may not be convinced PC will do the business or maybe he has dropped off by 5% since his peak but I say the man has massive cohones and will be on a mission. He moves across town to Chelsea’s main London rivals, creates a s**tstorm of controversy/debate in his wake, insists on the No.1 shirt and being the competitor he is I wouldn’t be surprised if he is quietly out to proof something to Mourinho. He will have nowhere to hide.

      I loved Ospina, no nonsense and unfussy and did a good job. But even if someone can make a compelling case that he is the equal of PC from a GK technical point of view (and frankly I would be amazed if someone could pull that one off) he would forever remain in the shadow of someone with monster presence and aura aligned with huge experience and commanding leadership skills. Wouldn’t be surprised if Wenger thought the £11M was money well-spent just for these qualities – never mind the goalkeeping skills! 🙂

      Anyway, whilst it still leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth for me – never wanted to be beholden to Mou or Chelski for anything, it sort of balances up the Cesc/Cole thing.

  3. fans craving for schneiderlin should stop dreaming. I bet you we will not buy any other midfielder. we demand to buy buy buy just for the sake of it. we’ve got Coquelin,Beilik,Wilshere,Chambers and Arteta and Flamini don’t seem like they gonna leave soon. if Wenger was interested to buy another DM he would’ve done that since especially with Kondogbia and Schneiderlin. we don’t need them, spending 25 million pounds just to keep a player on the bench is silly. we are not man city or real Madrid.

      1. See this is the problem – how on earth do you know that JoJo? I have been living out from under a rock and have paid attention to what is going on in the world at large – but not once have I come across or seen any sort of quote attributable to AFC to say we were in for him. We are all dancing to tunes put out there by people who guess, embellish and fabricate for a living.

        1. Wenger shops in pound land.
          So do I. you can pick up the occasional bargain item but a lot of it is poor quality and doesn’t work that well.

  4. Delighted if Cech medical goes through today. I predicted on monday that the medical will happen on or before friday. having said that, We will get a Striker and DM or Wenger might sign just one (Either a Striker or DM)….or maybe He will go for another great WINGER like Reus that can score goals and share them with sanchez and Giroud/Walcott…

    Whatever the case is, I believe Wenger knows the right thing to do if He truly wants Arsenal to challenge next season. The players wants to challenge so I hope we get things right in the transfer window. No Need to panic yet. Still early days and we know when Arsene love signing His players.

    Great to know we are trying to sign players and glad we got CECH before 1st July……

  5. Shame i realy like Higuain but no way we will pay 100 million for him at best 30 million pounds= 45million euros more then enough

    1. I am reasonably confidant that he will be better – much better in fact. Lehmann will be forever associated with the Invincibles, he entertained us and was brilliant at times but he was probably the weakest link in that team and grew ever less reliable. Seaman was a class above him – and I believe PC will be as well.

    2. Mou sold Luiz to P$G and he knocked them out of UCL. Now get ready for round 2 Mou.
      # CechPassesMedical

  6. Yes we lost Hig-again.
    He has joined
    Shaw Lane Aquaforce
    in the Evo-Stik Northern League
    because they paid his 67 mill fee.
    Arsenal has snapped up Evgeni Karamanov
    from OFC Zagorets Nova Zagora
    in the Bulgarian third division for a record fee
    of two laying hens and a bottle of Elderberry wine 🙂

    1. davidnz i forget its winter in NZ now, your brain must be frozen or your eating a lot of pickles HAHA don’t stop mate life would be gray without you

  7. I am really disappointed we may have missed out on Schneiderlin. A strong lad who is a proper midfielder. And the worse part is we have lost out to our rivals MANCHESTER uNITED. If they sign him that will make them stronger. Again whenever a club like United comes for our target we are bound to miss out on him.

    1. Come on WB – you only “lose out” if you bid for the player in the first place. Unless you know something I don’t then we never bid for him, nor Martinez nor Kondogbia for that matter. The media create the links then somehow try and validate/verify their guesswork in retrospect when something “real” actually happens. That is how we end seeing headlines like “Martinez snubs Gunners for Atletico”. Is all BS.

      1. But it was clear we were interested in him. For whole May /June it was us who were primarily linked to him so we cannot suddenly refuse that we were never interested in him.

        1. You may well be right Wayne – “we” as the fans and the media have been interested in him for what now seems like forever – just haven’t picked up on anything from AFC though to suggest we were ever in for him. Truth is, we are all guessing on this.

  8. I don’t reckon AW is a man who makes a promise and fails to make it happen…Le prof said he intends to sign world class players this transfer window to have a chance at the title – that is what he will do….
    Just chill

  9. Players who were rumoured to Arsenal who are off the market or close to it:
    Khedira
    Martinez
    Kondogbia
    Dybala
    Manduzic
    Schneiderlin
    Higuain
    Aubmeyang

    Who does that leave?
    Vidal
    Carvalho
    Gustavo
    Benzema
    Lacazette
    Draxler
    Greizmann
    Reus
    Song
    Krychowiak
    Sterling

    1. Well if you listen to some on here – no-one is ever off the market, even those who have just been sold!! So the list is mighty long.

  10. Q: Does this mean Higuain to Arsenal transfer is off?
    A: I don’t think it was ever on.

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