Quantcast
Home   >   Transfer News   >   Arsenal Could Hijack €22m Deal After Opening Talks With Agent

Arsenal Could Hijack €22m Deal After Opening Talks With Agent

By on June 22, 2015

According to reports, Arsenal could yet make a late play for the signature of Giannelli Imbula after opening talks with the midfielder’s agent.

Imbula is expected to leave Marseille after two impressive seasons at the Ligue 1 club which have seen him develop into one of the most highly-rated young midfielder’s in European football.

French outlet LE10 Sport claim that, despite already agreeing a deal to sign Geoffrey Kondogbia from Monaco, Inter Milan also have a deal in place to sign Imblua.

The publication suggests that Inter are willing to pay €22m including €3.5m worth of add ons and have agreed personal terms worth €4m gross per season.

However, Imbula isn’t completely sold on the idea of moving to Italy and Sky Italia journalist Gianluca Di Marzio claims that Arsenal have now made contact with the 22-year-old’s agent, who is also his father, to discuss a potential move to North London instead.

It’s not made clear whether we’ve put forward an offer to Marseille or the player yet, but it appears we could be making a late move to hijack Inter’s deal.

I think a new holding midfielder is vital as Arteta is approaching the end of his career and Flamini and Diaby are set to leave this summer, so we need more competition for Coquelin next year.

With Kondogbia out of the equation now, my preferred choice would be Schneiderlin but Imbula would certainly be a decent alternative if we can’t agree a deal with Southampton.

I’d hate to see us miss out on Schneiderlin to someone like Man Utd but we all know Arsene won’t pay over his valuation and with the Saints seemingly wanting around £25m, it looks like the boss is eyeing cheaper alternatives.

I personally think Imblua is a couple of years behind Schneiderlin in terms of development, plus he doesn’t have experience in the Premier League, but he does have all the attributes needed to be a top player so wouldn’t be too disheartened if he’s the man Wenger goes for in the end.

But we’ll have to act fast as Inter are pushing to close the deal and Tottenham have also reportedly made contact with the players agent, so Arsene better pull his finger out.