According to The Athletic, Arsenal may now be forced into the transfer market to buy a midfielder after Mohamed Elneny sustained a serious injury during the match against Fulham.
The report states that the injury came to notice after the midfielder completed the full 90 minutes at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday. The Egyptian is now expected to miss a substantial period, as the club and player await the full extent of the injury.
With Thomas Partey also out for a few weeks with a minor issue, the Gunners may be forced to recruit a new midfielder before the window shuts down at 11 pm (BST) on Thursday night.
Youri Tielemans has been strongly linked with a move to North London all summer, and the latest development might accelerate Arsenal’s move for the Belgian international.
Till now, Leicester’s asking price has proved to be a sticking point, with the club reportedly demanding interested suitors to pay up to £30 million for the midfielder – who just has one year left on his current deal.
With the transfer window edging closer to shutting down, The Foxes might reluctantly have to reduce their asking price and Arsenal could now step-up their interest in Tielemans following Elneny’s injury.
After acquiring the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner, and Marquinhos this summer, Arsenal’s transfer priority was to sign a wide forward.
Pedro Neto was the London outfit’s top target and negotiations are still ongoing. However, Arsenal are well aware of the fact that they may be priced out of a move for the young Portuguese.
More recently, Shakhtar Donetsk’s Mykhaylo Mudryk has been reported in the media. However, signing a winger and a midfielder looks extremely difficult, due to financial constraints, according to The Athletic.
With Arsenal extremely light at the middle of the park now, the report suggests Arteta may now opt to move in for a midfielder instead of a winger during the closing days of the window.
Even though the club has been reluctant to bring in players on loan in the past decade, I believe this situation is different. If there are financial difficulties, why not loan in a player?
I think Arsenal should not just be strengthening either one of the midfield or wide attacker. It’s not a case of “either one of” but “both” if the club wants to seriously push for something special this season.
They are so close to having a perfect squad. Why would they give up at the very end?
