- Arsenal ‘in the front row’ to sign Zubimendi this summer
- Arsenal tempted to swoop for £43m Benjamin Sesko
- Brighton could pay Arsenal at least £25m for Reiss Nelson
- Arsenal face a tough summer transfer fight for Antonio Nusa
- Arsenal to bid £85m for Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres
- Arsenal bid £60m for Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz
- David Ornstein predicts Massive squad transformation for Arsenal this summer
- Arsenal to sell Ramsdale and Partey to fund summer business
- Arsenal interested in signing Jonathan David this summer
- Arsenal register interest in signing Weston McKennie
Transfer news: Arsenal table bid for 27-year-old star as Arteta looks to add creativity
According to reports in Spain via The Sun, Arsenal have tabled an opening bid for Nabil Fekir but Real Betis have made it clear we’ll have to dig a lot deeper if we want to get a deal agreed.
Mikel Arteta needs to strengthen our squad this summer after overseeing a disastrous campaign that led to Arsenal missing out on European qualification for the first time in over 25 years having finished eighth in the Premier League table.
We need to sign a couple of defenders and at least two central midfielders but Arsenal also desperately need to add some creativity to the side as we lacked ideas in the final third at times last season.
Reports suggest that Arteta has still not given up hope of signing Martin Odegaard on a permanent basis but Arsenal are on the look out for alternatives and have already missed out on Emi Buendia to Aston Villa.
Fekir has now emerged as a potential target as The Sun cites a report from AS that claims Arsenal are showing a keen interest in the 27-year-old and have already submitted a formal opening bid to Real Betis.
No deal
However, the La Liga club aren’t going to lose their star man without a fight as the report says Betis have already knocked back Arsenal’s offer and made it clear it will take a substantial bid to tempt them into a sale.
Sporting director Antonio Cordon is quoted by the Sun as saying:
“At no club in the world is there a non-transferable player if tempting offers arrive.
“For us, we want keep him [Fekir], so if someone wants to come for him, they will have to pay a lot of money.”
Fekir is Betis’ highest earner and has become their best player after rediscovering his form following a move from Lyon in 2019 – a year after a proposed switch to Liverpool dramatically collapsed at the last minute.
The Frenchman has been linked with a move away this summer after helping Real Betis finish sixth in La Liga last season and, according to these reports, Arsenal are keen on bringing him to North London.
Fekir is a decent player with lots of quality so he’d be a solid addition to the Arsenal squad if we did end up getting a deal done. However, I’d take these reports with a pinch of salt for now and wait until we hear something more concrete as the AS report doesn’t even tell us how much our supposed opening offer was worth.