When the summer transfre window opened, it seemed obvious that Arsenal were desperate for a new attacking midfielder to compete with Emile Smith-Rowe, and our first choice was reported to be Emi Buendia, but that option was quickly when Aston Villa stepped in and snapped him up.
Yves Bissouma was hotly tipped to go to Arsenal, but with Brighton allowing Ben White to move to the Emirates, I can’t see Brighton letting us have another one of their players.
Another top target was supposed to be Martin Odegaard after he impressed in the six months he was on loan at Arsenal last season, and after the Norwegian returned to his parent club, Arteta made it clear that he wanted him back at the Emirates this season.
But then Zidane left Madrid, and Carlo Ancelotti took over, throwing Odegaard’s return in doubt but it was not a total impossibility as time moved on.
But now it looks like the door is firmly shut, as the Madrid mouthpiece AS has reported an injury to Toni Kroos has made Odegaard’s departure impossible for now.
AS reported…..
The injury of Kroos closes the exit to Odegaard and Ceballos
The Madrid club does not want what happened last season to happen again, when Zidane had to pull homegrown players due to the lack of midfielders
On Tuesday, August 3, at 6:14 p.m., Real Madrid issued a statement stating that Toni Kroos (31 years old) suffers from pubalgia that will keep him off the pitch during the first days of the League. At that moment, the exit door for Martin Odegaard (22 years old) and Dani Ceballos (24 years old) was closed.
Now it would appear that James Maddison is our new top target, but with the price spiralling out of control I don’t think that is likely to happen now, although Arteta may be so desperate that he could end up paying whatever Leicester ask for.
What happened to the rumours about Ruben Neves? He is now reported to be on Man United’s radar, but seems very happy to remain at Wolves with 3 years left on his contract.
Manuel Locatelli has snubbed the Gunners in favour of moving to Juventus, and the thought of Bernado Silva leaving Man City to join us is simply laughable without and European football.
For me, there is a good possibility of signing Houssem Aouar, but Arteta doesn’t seem to fancy him, and if Arteta runs out of options, I am thinking that we may just keep Joe Willock to fill the role instead….
Darren N