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Was it Arsenal? Unnamed English club launch £31m bid for Emery target

By on July 31, 2018

According to Bild via the Mirror, an unnamed English club have tabled a £31m bid to sign Arsenal target Jean-Philippe Gbamin but Mainz have already knocked it back.

Unai Emery has splashed around £70m on five new signings with Bernd Leno, Sokratis and Stephan Lichtsteiner arriving along with midfield duo Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi in recent weeks.

However, the Arsenal boss is still being tipped to bring in further new additions before the window closes in nine days time as he continues to overhaul the squad he inherited from Arsene Wenger.

Despite already signing two midfielders, Emery is reportedly still on the market for another defensive-minded central midfielder as he looks to deploy his preferred system with two holding CM’s this season.

The Mirror claim Arsenal have identified Gbamin as a potential target after being impressed by the 22-year-old’s performances since he joined Mainz from Lens two years ago.

The newspaper is citing a report from Bild that claims an unnamed English club have now submitted an opening £31m offer for Gbamin’s signature but Mainz have already rejected it out of hand.

The German clubs sporting director Rouven Schroder insists they aren’t interested in selling the talented Ivory Coast international:

“Jean-Philippe is not on the market”, Schroder is quoted by the Mirror as saying.

“We too have some ambitions and he is a big part of our plans for the new season.”

It’s not made clear in the report whether it was Arsenal who tabled the offer but we’re supposedly showing a keen interest in Gbamin so we may have decided to step-up our pursuit with an opening bid.

However, I’d personally be surprised if that was the case. Emery has already blown his initial budget so any further signings will come from money raised from player sales and I just don’t see us spending circa £30m on a relatively unknown midfielder from the Bundesliga.

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If we’re to buy another midfielder this summer – and I’m not convinced we will – I think it’s more likely to be an older player such as Steven N’Zonzi. We have Guendouzi who’s impressed since joining this summer while Torreira and Ainsley Maitland-Niles are also young so I think Emery would want a more experienced player rather an Gbamin – who’s just 22.

I’m not sure which English club made this bid for Gbamin, but I’d be surprised if it was Arsenal.

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