Arsenal have recently been linked with a 19 year old striker showing his strengths in the Belgian Juplier League, playing his trade for KAS Eupen.
Henry Onyekuru, who is currently training with the Nigerian national side, is understood to have been made aware of Arsenal’s interest in him, ahead of a potential move. Onyekuru finished as the league’s joint top scorer at the end of the season and has as a result, attracted plenty of interest across Europe.
The fee being suggested is around the £6.8 million mark, an absolute steal in today’s market. However in my opinion there’s a reason why the player is valued so low, because he apparently isn’t as impressive as his stats suggest!
We are talking about a player here who according to Sky Sports, is also attracting interest from the likes of Everton, Southampton, West Brom and Crystal Palace. I’ve even seen that relegated side Middlesborough are interested in the striker. Now Arsenal blow those teams out of the water when it comes to who he would want to sign for, that’s without considering the fact he’s supposedly an Arsenal fan. However the fact that the Gunners are even being linked with a player that is being targeted by a Championship side, let alone considering talks with him, just shows in my opinion, how far the club has fallen on its transfer policy.
The transfer policy at Arsenal does unearth a few gems of the future, most notably Hector Bellerin and seemingly Alex Oxlade Chamberlain. It’s also good at recruiting talent such as Ozil and Alexis. However for every one or two signings who go on to work well for the Gunners, we have four or five signings who just shouldn’t be playing for the likes of Arsenal. I’m talking about Andre Santos, Park Chu Young and Kim Kallstrom. I’m thinking about Yaya Sanogo, Gervinho and Sebastian Squillaci. The fact that any of these players were recruited by Arsenal is worrying, but I cannot help but fear that Arsene Wenger is once again setting his hopes upon one man who is unfortunately most likely to flop.
If Onyekuru was to sign for the Gunners, then we should of course give the player a chance to show us what he’s got. I am not usually one to judge and he may surprise us all. However I think the fact that Arsenal aren’t battling the likes of Madrid, Barcelona and City for his signature, but instead challenging Palace and West Brom, just goes to show what quality of player we have here.
At £6.8 million and just 19 years old, he could turn out to be a bargain for the Gunners. However for me I’m just not convinced and sadly I think Wenger’s approach in the transfer market is really being shown up here.
By AH