Global football is currently on pause for the most part, but the Premier League has been given the all clear to restart sometime next month, with matches to be played behind closed doors.
There are still some hurdles to cleear regarding Project Restart, but today brought the announcement that contact training will now resume, and that’s a major milestone in the journey towards return. Until football restarts, we have some transfer talk to cover. So let’s take a spin through the Arsenal FC rumor mill in cyberspace.
For today’s Arsenal transfer rumors part one, go here.
It has been widely reported that Mikel Arteta will not be given a large transfer window war chest to work with from the board this summer. Thus, they’ll have to be creative, and find bargains where they can. As has been documented, FC Barcelona is in serious need of money, so perhaps they will take a price cut when moving out some of their players this summer.
Two forwards who have disappointed during their stints at the Catalan club, Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho, could be made available. Both have endured injury and seen their form drop while with the Blaugranes.
We already covered the former today, as for the latter, Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, says Barca are prepared to let Dembele leave if they can get about €40 million for him. And it looks like Arsenal will definitely have a place for him going forward, pun intended, as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s contract expires next year.
It appears that contract extension talks with the Gabon international are going nowhere, and the Emirates may move him this summer, as they risk getting nothing for him in return next summer. Dembele has reportedly been on Arsenal’s radar for awhile, so now the timing may be right.
Interesting how both these players had a stint at Borussia Dortmund. They both fit the buy low, sell high approach that has come to define BVB.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.
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