Arsenal is amongst the clubs interested in signing Napoli star Dries Mertens in January.
Apparently, the 32-year-old will be available for £8.5 Million in January as his contract runs down with little likelihood that Napoli will be offering an extension.
The report from Italian media outlet Il Mattino per the Express, claims that Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich are also keen on signing the Belgium forward.
It seems that Mertens is seen as a replacement for Alexandre Lacazette. The thinking is that he would be a better fit for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang than what the Frenchman has been.
It is reportedly hoped that Mertens arrival would bring a shake-up to the forward lineup.
So, that is the rumour and to some degree, it would make sense, however, it is also fraught with risk.
Mertens is getting on a bit and I am not sure he would handle the intensity of the English game but he is certainly experienced and would be cheap.
He could take up the Mesut Ozil role if the German departs, it is certainly the least demanding role physically in the Arsenal line up.
In his prime, Mertens was a top-quality player and for £8 Million he may be worth taking a chance on but he is hardly the future is he?
This rumor doesn’t make any sense, because Arsenal are focused on rejuvenating their squad
A rumor about a new young Spanish player from La Liga or another young South American would make more sense
Can we survive on a philosophy of cheaper older players. I’m afraid not. We can become a middle of the table team or even relegation contenders. Arteta has shown his interest at Man City in Mikel Oyarzabal. We have already shown interest in Dayot Upamecano, Ibrahima Konaté and Samuel Umtiti. If we do not sign a quality CB & Santi replacement we will stay shite. Arteta or no Arteta. It’s about quality players. We need them now. How can Luiz and Socratis play for us…Arsenal???? Where is our midfield genius we are bog standard ordinary…sign Oyarzabal before City do!
Older players that have run down their contracts are mid table fodder, we learned that ourselves with lichtsteiner
OT: i hope an expert of the game will help us run down analysis of relative job specification of our ‘head coach’, i am getting confused about what comment i read here as regards d subject matter, some say his job is just to coach, no involvement or say in ehoever club buy or sell.
Does that mean by tomorow Raul could decide to sell off Leno just because some juicy offer come in?
I used to think there is a list of who the coach think will/not fit in to his plan or probably when the scout/neteork found any relisble player he has the first clearance to give go ahead or not. So which one is the real thing happening.
I can’t offer much by way of expertise, but from what I’ve read about how clubs operate, it tends to be discretionary. For example, Ambrovich and Mourinho fell out because the former had the final say on transfers. Solskjaer has come out and said that he has the final say at United although this wasn’t necessarily the case with Mourinho. I’d imagine that head coaches discuss their involvement and formalise roles in their contracts.
Bottom line: only the top brass at the Emirates know. We can just make guesses based on who goes in/comes out and whether it fits with what Arteta wants. At the very least, if he feels a transfer would be damaging, it’s likely his opinion would hold some away.
Ps. I always remember Wenger refused to hire a Director of Football because he wanted full control over transfers, although he was one of the few who kept this power at the time.
Total bullshit, are we moving forward or backwards by having interest in a 32yr old midfielder for a fast pace premiere league, it’s a negative rumours.
‘In his prime’….. says it all!
Reminder:by this time in 15/16 season,Ozil has made 15 assists in the league,more than any other player in epl history
Henry make 20 assist in the past
Arsenal need to spend any available transfer funds on midfielders, particularly DM and CB’s. Hopefully we do not get mentioned in the running for every club’s aging cast offs.
This ozil defences is getting out of hands.
Why will someone use player around a player to judge another player ability?
What has happened to try your best for people to see.
Ozil has the same players around like Sanchez does and he still prove himself.
Auba proves his, Zaha, De bruyne in his former club… So many players I can’t mention.
Ozil has a single year to show himself, so is Ramsey, Wilshere,and many others. This players also play among same atmosphere.
People saying he did wonders in Madrid, put Ramsey or Wilshere in Madrid team and see how they perform.
Put cazorla in Madrid team and see if they will ever want him out, that is how good he is compare to Ozil.
Ozil is just not a good player, that’s simple. A good player doesn’t need good players to prove himself. A good players shows what he got on the field .
Some even use pre assist to defend him but I remember this same set of people go against Iwobi’s fan when using pre assist to defend him. If pre assist is not good to defend iwobi, why is it good for Ozil?
God knows I prefer Fabregas 10times than Ozil.
Forget about his salary though, he didn’t force the board for it, so I don’t see him as a fraud for that
And in 2014 Mustafi won the World Cup. Aren’t you happy all this stuff that players did seasons ago translates into this season?
Most people on this site are Ageists. I would have loved it if a 32 year old Ibrahimovic or 32 year old Buffon had come to Arsenal
Don’t go straight to AGE. Look at how a player is currently playing first.
absolutely… the comparison to lichtsteiner for example is very bad because he had already declined but there are a lot of players over 32 who would improve us tremendously
Innit, I disagree with your comment about “most people” . Though ageism DOES exist in general, amongst football fans as in society itself. It also exists at both the top and the bottom end of players ages. Most shrewd and wise fans know that in general, you need a good balance of ages in a successful team. There is room for both old and very young players, PROVIDED ONLY, that ALL are good enough, fit enough, hard working enough and effective enough.
thats Auba, Ozil, Laca, Mertens all in our attack that are around 30 or above. You need to have a good mix, and think about resale value of your players as well. You can throw around ageist if you want but reality is this stuff matters.
I don’t see us interested in mertens, i think its just media tripe just my opinion.
Dries Mertens is “over the hill”.
Heard we are interested in Kevin Volland