There has been an interesting development in Arsenal’s chase for the young winger Joelson Fernandes, with A Bola reporting that the Gunners are sending a team (including agent Kia Joorabchian) over to Lisbon to negotiate with Sporting Club for their exciting youngster.
The report was picked up by the Express, who report: “The 17-year-old winger looks set to depart the Primeira Liga outfit due to a contract wrangle amid mounting interest in his signature.
“Sporting want to increase the value of Joelson’s €45million (£41m) release clause but he has failed to commit to fresh terms.”
Obviously Arsenal would want to keep the current release clause before Sporting persuade Joelson to sign an extension nearly doubling that figure to 80million, although the player himself says he knows nothing about any contract extension. But he has noticed the links to Arsenal. “Joelson said: “It is very flattering and I think it represents the value of my work.
“I did not look at that alleged interest very much, I am happy where I am and fighting to achieve my dream, which is to play for Sporting’s first team.
“Nobody has told me about this extension offer yet. Besides, I try not to think about these things too much. I just want to play football.”
If this is true, then I can only imagine that Joelson would be the replacement for Aubameyang, but with Saka and Martinelli readymade replacements if our top scorer leaves, why would we lay out another 45million to get a 17 year-old Joelson?