With Danny Welbeck out of the play for the rest of the season, Arsenal are likely to move from their conventional stance of staying aloof in the transfer market and make a move for young Belgian sensation Leandro Trossard.
The Gunners are desperately searching for a striker who can relieve the pressure off the two main forwards, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. Arsenal are reportedly interested in signing Genk forward Trossard, as Sport Witness reports that his agent has confirmed interest from the North London club.
The little known Belgian is valued at £100 million and has scored 11 goals in 19 appearances for Genk. Moreover, it seems like the wonder kid is attracting attention from fellow London rivals, Tottenham Hotspurs as well.
Trossard’s manager, Josy Comhair said that despite interest from the Emirates outfit, Trossard would likely not be making a move in the winter transfer window.
Comhair stated:
“I contacted representatives from Arsenal and Tottenham. At Spurs, nobody wanted to confirm that Trossard is an option, but Arsenal did.”
Tottenham’s interest in the player is vague and doesn’t look promising as the only contact they made was an unfruitful brief conversation on phone.
He added, “They told me Leandro has a very interesting profile for them and that they’ve been following him since August.”
The manager issued a clear statement saying that his move in the winter window is definitely not a possibility and his future wouldn’t be discussed until the summer of 2019.
Genk manager, Phillipe Clement had a slightly different idea in the teen’s future. He said:
“I’m not afraid Trossard is leaving, it was not so easy to keep him last summer, but we talked.”
Currently, Trosaard’s contract with the club is expected to last up to 2021 and was extended in May, this year.
“Generally no players leave in January. 100 million is something else, but 25 million is not enough for Trossard to leave in January.”
This statement hinted at the slight possibility of having the Belgian join the ranks of Gunners at a price which wouldn’t be easy for them to pay.
Rumours are very much afloat that they would be selling the underperforming Mohamed Elneny in order to raise the funds for acquiring new talent.
Ousmane Dembele’s arrival is a faint possibility; again in this case too, Unai Emery‘s side would have to break the bank. Frankly, £89 million isn’t just lying around, waiting to be spent.
Amidst all this chaos the Londoners have the 19 year old Eddie Nketiah warming their bench. The Arsenal academy looked promising in the International Champions Cup and could perhaps be groomed under Emery for playing with the big boys.
Nevertheless, the stakes are too high for Arsenal to be taking a risk and putting their Champions League spot at stake.
It’s clear to us that the future of the club would be heavily influenced on the talent acquisition in the winter transfer window as the team would’ve to be reconstructed in the absence of Aaron Ramsey and Welbeck.
Hardly a month is left for the winter transfer window to open and Arsenal have to get their priorities right and make some smart signings.
