Arsenal Transfer Balls: Perisic, Nkunku and Suarez in; Sokratis lives
Arsenal need a winger. No great news there. The team are narrower than a Guardian columnist’s politics. But who will the wide man be? The Sun says it’s Barcelona’s Brazilian forward Malcom, 21. He only joined the Spanish club from Bordeaux in July 2018, agreeing a five-year contract for a transfer fee of around €41million.
Scouted heavily by Liverpool and Spurs before he opted for Barca, Malcolm was described as a player with “no inflated ego, no excuses – just a burning desire to win at all cost”. He sounds a dream. But his time at Barcelona has been stop-start. And now Barcelona are very keen to offload him. Earlier this month, Chelsea rejected Barcelona’s bid of Malcom plus cash for Willian.
So it’s Malcom to Arsenal, then. Or maybe Arsenal will get Inter Milan’s Croatia attacker Ivan Perisic, 29? Arsenal want Perisic on loan with a £35m option to buy. He’s a cracking player. The BBC says he’s open to leaving the San Siro. Adding: “It is understood Inter would be prepared to do business for between £35m-£40m.” Maybe Arenal will entice Inter into a deal by lobbing them Mesut Ozil and subsiding some of the German’s gargantuan wages?
Also heading to the Gunners – maybe – are Barcelona’s Denis Suarez and Christopher Nkunku of Paris St-German.
As for a defender, well, Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin, Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis Papadopoulos are all injured. But now matter: Carl Jenkinson is available. The best form of defence at Arsenal is to attack.
Posted: 27th, January 2019 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
