Arsenal, along with the rest of most global football, are off indefinitely, so let’s do some transfer talk instead. If there’s one thing that can survive a global pandemic, it’s transfer rumors. There are reports stating the Premier League could return to action in mid June, and potentially play matches behind closed doors.
That is of course contingent on how well everything goes in trying to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Until football starts up again we have mostly just transfer talk to do, and before we get started I encourage you to check out our all Arsenal transfer rumor starting XI and our optimal Arsenal XI with all transfer targets acquired and key players retained.
The big news today regarding Arsenal is the player roster and staff agreeing to a 12.5% wage cut for the next year. It’s a major development, and it conveys just how limited their transfer war chest could be this summer. However, they’re going to have add some new players, no matter how constrained their budget, because, well, look where they are in the table.
A report from Sport says the north London side, as well as Manchester United (we’ve covered this previously) be after FC Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele. The 22-year-old, acquired from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 with the massive windfall brought in from the Neymar sale, has been extremely prone at the Catalan club.
Barca will have to take a major financial hit on their investment in Dembele in order to ship him out, but even with that massive price cut, he might cost too much for the Gunners, especially given how he doesn’t really fit a major positional need.
Elsewhere, NBC reports that Atletico Madrid are doing all they can to try and keep midfielder Thomas Partey at the club, amid interest and pursuit from Arsenal.
They’re taking very strong action, offering the 26-year-old “a new contract that would double his wages and raises his release clause to more than $100 million.”
In sticking with Arsenal targets named Thomas, who play for Atletico, we close this transfer rumor round-up with a return to an oldie but goodie, Thomas Lemar. The Gunners have been interested for some time, even making a bumbled, failed bid at the last minute in the 2017 summer transfer window.
He was with Monaco then, and it was the next summer that he left for Atleti.
Mundo Deportivo reports that Arsenal now have competition in the race to acquire him- from AS Roma.
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.
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