Arsenal’s rumoured bid for Lookman should remain that, Rumors!
With the gunner’s closing in on our third permanent transfer this summer with Mikel Merino, attentions have already turned to more potential additions before the window closes on the 30th.
With it being reported by many sources at the moment that Arsenal have lodged a bid for my fellow county man Ademola Lookman. The bid in question being £42million plus Jakub Kiwior going in the other direction. The Nigerian international has been consistently delivering in the Italian top flight for the past few seasons but it was his performance in the Europa league final last campaign that catapulted him to the international recognition, helping Atalanta win their first European trophy with a hattrick in that final.
Having said that it’s clear as day that he possesses loads of quality however I would not recommend us to make a move. I think we as a club shouldn’t be having recency bias when trying to recruit players, not saying that’s the perception our club is having but should be avoided nevertheless.
Furthermore I also think we have similar profiles within the squad that can offer exactly if not better what he can add to our squad. Martinelli, Trossard and Jesus are all players who can play comfortably on the leftwing with the latter two being able to play more as inside forwards if it’s demanded tactically, moreover if Arsenal are going to splash the cash then signing an elite Center forward or cover for Bukayo on the right wing should be top priority.
This rumour has not come from a certified credible source to trust for pieces of news like this which is a little reliving, given I don’t see any of this to be true and think the player’s camp might be using our name to garner more attention around the player.
Ddon’t get me wrong he has undoubted quality but don’t think is the right choice given that we’re stacked in the position already and with other positions of more importance to strengthen.
He would certainly not be my choice but what are you thinking? Do you all think it will be a good move for Arsenal?
KENNETH BENJAMIN.
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Surely get Toney for 45 mil.and sell Kivior for 20 to 25, is far better business. And what we want. I don’t get it. I do know, we were not looking at Lookman 😄 but we are one of the clubs contacted by his agent to see if we wanted him. Probably come to nothing.
Arsenal is probably looking for a striker or even a winger and the other clubs know that so there are bound to be all sorts of names linked. I hadn’t thought of Lookman at all until his name appeared and he may disappear as quickly. Toney is a long term “favourite” in reports anyway and then there’s Gyokeres who is also regularly linked with Arsenal.
If I was Edu, I wouldn’t be interested in player + cash deals (Kiwior + cash for Lookman for example) at this stage in the window, always tricky to pull off, but rather straight transfers in and out. Who knows though.
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Surely with all due respect l
Lookman is not the quality Arsenal should be looking at right now. More so the money is too much.
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agreed, don’t need another left winger, does not improve the team, too expensive
Ornstein, a far more reliable source, recently stated the profile Arsenal may consider in closing stages of the window
“a winger who will be happy being a backup”
Lookman and £65m do not seem a good fit for that profile
Lookman’s stats at Atlanta:
22/23 Season:
Serie A: 13 goals, 6 assists.
Coppa Italia: 1 goal
14 goals, 6 assists
23/24 Season:
Serie A: 11 goals, 7 assists.
Europa League: 5 goals, 1 assist.
Coppa Italia: 2 goals
18 goals, 8 assists
Total: 32 goals and 14 assists the last 2 seasons.
On per with Khvicha Kavaratshkelia (25 goals, 17 assists the last 2 seasons) and Rafael Leao(29 goals, 20 assists) over the last two seasons. He’s good with both feet, can finish with both, play across the front 3 positions, can play attacking midfield, confident with the fall at his feet with tricks and close control. Yeah he struggled at Fulham and Leicester couple of years ago as a young chap just like your Henry at Juventus, KDB’s, Salah’s both at Chelsea, even the Merino(Newcastle) we just signed and many more too numerous to mention. I used struggled and not flopped because one could see the talent, good decision making, confidence and the occasional good performance even back then as a young player.
Just read that he’s agreed terms with PSG, that tells you a lot about the players quality. I’ve always maintained that we need a quality Striker/Right Winger, any of both would give us the necessary quality squad depth we need on all fronts. City just got back Gundogan. Wow! The only player who could cover Rodri hence the struggles last season when Rodri was unavailable, and can also play any of the 3 midfield positions comfortably, they have certainly improved this season by adding him to the lot.
I can see Lookman making a lot of sense. He can play across the front line and supposedly has played down the middle for Atalanta. He is very gifted technically. It seems to me that Arteta is set on playing Havertz in the middle, which means paying top money for a top striker to be a backup is unlikely to happen. So to add a player like Lookman and create new options across the front line could make sense.
(personally I think Martineli is on borrowed time and Trossard, as good as he is, is not a player you can start every game at his age)
OT
City have re-signed Gundogan from Barcelona on a free transfer after he spent a season there. That’s good business by Pep. Gundogan was a huge influence at City and although he’s getting on now, he should last a season for them at least.
And they did it without a long protracted transfer saga, of course the deal for Gundogan was probably more straightforward than our signings. When on earth are we going to get something about Merino, all I keep reading is that terms have been agreed etc but still nothing official.
I think it’s a question of “anytime now”.
You’re on dangerous ground suggesting that the Merino transfer was in any way protracted. That said, you’re right – it all took far longer than really necessary. Ironically in the end his club got the fee they wanted anyway because Arsenal wasn’t going to pull out at that late stage.
Yeah, we could have just paid the €65 release clause after he agreed personal terms and he could have been in weeks ago.
That’s ridiculous in my opinion. No Sporting Director of any club would activate a release clause on a player that has one year left on his contract as the player would be free to negotiate with another club in January for a free transfer in the summer. If Edu or anyone else did that he’d be sacked.
Real Sociedad wanted the best deal they could get for a 28-year-old player for whom they had no other firm interest/offers and who’d be gone for nothing next summer. The price they wanted was generally reported for some time as £30m (about 35m euros). And they got it despite all the long negotiations, Edu flying out to Spain etc. One reason for that is they knew Arsenal couldn’t/wouldn’t pull out after all that time with the window closing next week.
RS wanted as much as they could get and did not have to sell unless the release was agreed to. Ridiculous or not, the point is the deal could have been done much faster. Would it have been better? Of course not.
No, you’re missing the point. Of course, RS didn’t have to sell – no club has to sell a player under contract (unless they’re in dire financial difficulty) whether there’s a release clause or not.
In Spain every player is obliged to have a release clause but none, when sold, go for anything like the money stipulated (unless it’s set too low). For example, when Barcelona signed Raphinha his release clause was set at 1 billion euros! If Arsenal wants to buy him, as some reports suggest, and Barcelona are willing to sell, what fee do you think they’d pay? 1 billion euros?
Release clauses are barely relevant at the best of times and certainly not the case with Merino.
RS were fully aware of that, so it wasn’t a factor. They wanted £30m now rather than nothing next summer. They got it and Arsenal got their player – but they could have got him for the £30m earlier because there would have been no incentive for RS to hold out as no other clubs were interested (and he wasn’t interested in any other club, apparently).
No, I made my point. With an extreme example I’ll grant you. Just look at the window itself. What is it all about? Negotiation. It is not as straightforward as plunking down the funds and putting the player in your squad. By taking more time to negotiate, a better deal or no deal at all (not necessarily a bad thing) may result for the buying club. Faster is not usually better, just faster and it appeases the fans who have to rely on reports and speculation based on unnamed sources.
Look man this Lookman guy isnt what we need. Taking a look at our options upfront i dont see where this man would fit in. Trossard/Martinelli (LW), Jesus/Havertz (CF), Nelson/Saka (RW).
ManU looks like a better option for him.
It seems this was just a rumour, but lookman does make sense as our left wing does have some issues (martinelli isn’t productive enough ATM and trossard arteta doesn’t seem to like starting trossard) and we need cover for the right wing as nelson clearly isn’t trusted and would probably leave if we get a decent offer. A quality winger who can play either side would really improve our squad.
I suspect we’re truly interested in nico Williams (? the Spanish winger who did so well at the euros), but he probably won’t join.
Adingra might also be a good signing for the same reasons