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Arsenal Table Formal Midfielder Bid, Player Set To Leave – Report
According to the Express, Arsenal have stepped up their interest in Charly Musonda after tabling a formal £8.5m offer for the Chelsea midfielder.
Musonda joined the Blues from Anderlecht in 2012 has has been hugely impressive in their youth teams over the past three years, but his father confirmed earlier this month that his son is set to leave the West London club.
“Charly must absolutely leave Chelsea and, since January, Monaco have been trying to sign him.” Musonda snr is quoted as saying by the Express
As I reported earlier this week, Arsenal were also named among the clubs who are believed to be keen on luring the 18-year-old away from Stamford Bridge this summer.
An apparent source close to the player was quoted in the Evening Standard as saying that Musonda wanted to leave Chelsea in search of regular first team action with the likes of Arsenal, Man City, PSG, Monaco, Marseille and PSV all keen on his services.
“There are big clubs such as Manchester City, Arsenal and PSG who want a direct transfer,” a source close to the player told the Evening Standard
“But also Monaco, Marseille and PSV want a loan deal with an option to buy.
“Charly wants to play at the highest level next season and he wants to go to a club where he can have guarantees in terms of playing time, and who will be of Chelsea’s calibre.
“With the Blues, he does not have guarantees, and that disturbs him, especially as he is very attached to the club.”
“The Blues are open to his departure, but not for less than €10 million [£7 million].
“And for the moment, Manchester City have an edge over Arsenal.
“PSG are waiting to learn more about their Financial Fair Play sanctions and to see which players will leave [this summer].”
It appears we’ve now formalised our interest as the Express are one of several media outlets who are reporting this evening that Arsenal have tabled an £8.5m offer for the central midfielder.
We’ll have to wait and see how Chelsea respond to that bid but I’d personally be surprised if the Premier League champions agreed to do business with us again this summer.
We’re on the verge of luring Petr Cech away from Stamford Bridge so how will Jose Mourinho feel if Roman Abramovich also agrees to sell one of his best young talents to his bitter rivals?
Cech wants to remain in London so had little option but to move to us, but Musonda has a number of clubs after him so I think we’ll probably end up seeing the Belgian under-21 star head abroad.
It would have been a waste of time him coming to Arsenal for regular minutes anyway as he’s no more likely to start with us than he is at Chelsea.