There were some Arsenal rumours a couple of weeks ago that the Sevilla midfielder Steven N’Zonzi had flown to London to have talks with the Gunners after falling out with the Sevilla chief coach during the 3-3 draw with Liverpool in the Champions League.
This was denied of course, but N’Zonzi admitted that he had played his last game for Sevilla, and now (surprise, surprise) it seems the French international is on the way to Arsenal after the two clubs agreed a transfer fee of £35m. The Spanish publication El Gol is being very specific when they say that Arsenal will pay £32.7million to Sevilla with £2.6m coming on bonuses (37 million euros, plus 3 million), which would indicate that they are very certain that this deal is going through.
Recently the Sevilla president Jose Castro said that N’Zonzi would be allowed to leave and he revealed the midfielders release clause. “The coaches do not count on him and we have to respect their work,” he said. “The games are won with and without N’Zonzi.
“They also said that it was not an irreversible situation. Let’s hope so.
“Sell Steven N’Zonzi? He has two and a half years of contract and a clause of €40m.
“His clause is one of the highest in the club and we will not fight him.”
N’Zonzi is a tough tackling hard defensive midfielder and considering that Granit Xhaka has not really settled into the role for Arsenal, it would not be a surprise that Wenger is looking for an alternative for the New Year. I am quite willing to believe that this is true and in fact I hope it is! He will settle in quickly and go straight into the first team.
Welcome to Arsenal, Steven!
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