Moises Caicedo and/or Declan Rice. Declan Rice and/or Moises Caicedo- that is the Arsenal story in these very early days of the summer transfer window. Although it is worth noting that the North Londoners will be looking to upgrade depth tat centre-back, right-back, and maybe even forward too. We’ve covered the duo of Caicedo and Rice, quite a bit, already, but let’s now take a look at the latest updates relating to the midfielders.
We’ll look at potential fallback options if they can’t land one or both of them. Also, someone will have to leave the Arsenal midfield in order to make room.
Welcome to midfield makeover edition of Arsenal transfer talk. Let’s start with Caicedo, who the Gunners bid for multiple times in January, only to see all those offers rejected. Caicedo even formally said goodbye to the Seagulls, only to end up staying put. Oops! Right now the Emirates are said to be in pole position for the 21-year-old Brighton & Hove Albion star man.
Arsenal will face competition from Manchester United and Chelsea for the Ecuadorian, with the latter looking into a potential swap deal. The Telegraph has more.
Moving on to Declan Rice, tonight will probably be his final match in a West Ham United shirt, and we’ve previewed the UECL Final here and here. Rice is wanted by several other clubs, including Manchester United and Bayern Munich, and the impending bidding war for him could see the final transfer fee go north of £100m. And of course, there will be the usual English player premium.
Goal takes a look at whether or not Declan Rice is world-class or overhyped.
Ilkay Gundogan, who will wait until after the Champions League Final to decide on his Manchester City future, could be available for Arsenal on a free transfer, but there will be competition from FC Barcelona for his signature.
The Evening Standard has more over at this link. Finally, Granit Xhaka could be on the move this summer, with Bayer Leverkusen said to be interested.
He could be had at a price of about £35m, but Arsenal won’t move him on unless they find a replacement first.
That’s according to journalist Florian Plettenberg, who provides more details at the cited link.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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