ARSENAL SET LOW SUMMER BUDGET…
There is a very interesting line on Arsenal in the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday morning. Jeremy Wilson writes that Arsene Wenger’s replacement will only be permitted to have a transfer budget of £50m this summer. That’s after the signings of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January.
We’re used to being told fanciful stories of Arsenal warchests, but this is a lot more like a transfer wartin. What’s most surprising is that Arsenal have leaked this news now. Surely it could put off some of their potential targets?
In fairness, Wilson does also say that the money from any players sold can also be reinvested in the squad. But that’s hardly likely to generate much cash unless key players are sold, and nobody wants that. Now to persuade someone to pay £40m for Shkodran Mustafi.
…AND GAZIDIS MAKES CHOICE
There is clearly some disagreement within Arsenal’s hierarchy about who should take over from Wenger, but Sky Sports is reporting that Ivan Gazidis has made his choice.
They say that Gazidis sees Mikel Arteta as the perfect candidate to replace Wenger. Despite his lack of first-team managerial experience, Arteta is highly rated within Manchester City’s structure.
Arsenal will this week being their search for a new manager, choosing to wait until Wenger’s exit had been announced. Sky Sports believe that Raul Sanllehi, the club’s head of football operations, prefers Luis Enrique. Sven Mislintat prefers Hoffenheim’s Julian Nagelsmann or Schalke’s Domenico Tedesco. Good to see everyone is on the same page.
MAN CITY HAPPY TO SELL STONES
Well isn’t this the massive bloody shout. The amount of meaningful transfer gossip between February and April is pretty low, but The Sun have something meaty for us on Tuesday morning. Stop it.
Chief football writer Dave Kidd has an exclusive on the claim that Manchester City will look to sell John Stones this summer, after the central defender has dropped down the pecking order at the Etihad this season.
Kidd says that Stones is now considered by Pep Guardiola to be the club’s fourth-choice centre-back behind Aymeric Laporte, Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi, and so they will look to move him on if they can get most of the fee they paid for him and buy a replacement.
Kidd then mentions that Arsenal might be interested. Given the first section in this gossip column, he will take up all of their transfer budget.
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