Auxerre president Guy Cotret has confirmed that he has received a bid from a French club, believed to be Rennes, for in-demand striker Paul-Georges Ntep but, seemingly unimpressed with Arsenal, has gone public on suspicions that the Gunners are trying to turn the player’s head.
The 21-year-old Franco-Cameroon striker, who has been tipped to follow in the (limping) footsteps of Yaya Sanogo since November, revealed on Saturday that he was on his way to London for what were thought to be negotiations with Queens Park Rangers.
Claiming that his young charge had probably chatted with Arsene Wenger instead, Cotret seemed to infer that Ntep was being courted behind his back.
“I have had no contact with an English club,” he told lyonne.fr [translation by Inside Futbol].
“There is a French club of which I have spoken, and who has made an offer. After that, maybe the player and his agent have had other contacts. But in terms of offers, there is only one.
“I read they were talking about QPR. He was not at Queens Park. And Arsenal? Without a doubt!! I’m not fooled.
“We are in advanced negotiations with the French club that I mentioned on Sunday. For his part, Paul-George is considering [the offer]. We have given him another 24 hours to come to a decision.”
It’s no secret that Arsenal are on the lookout for a striker to deputise for Olivier Giroud although you suspect that Arsene views Ntep as a long-term project; a rough diamond like Sanogo, who he might be able to polish into an Anelka. If he’s lucky.
While the player is probably very interested in a high-profile move to the Emirates, not to mention the financial rewards on offer, he’s probably well aware that the step up from Ligue 2 to the Premier League could see his playing time limited.
As such the move is a bit of a risk for both parties. Arsenal are likely hoping Ntep falls in love with Arsenal, makes it clear we’re his only desire and subsequently gives us a chance to barter Auxerre down. Unlike Sanogo, he comes with a price tag in the €8 million mark.
Watch this space.
Sign him up Arsene. That name, Ntep!!
Yeah! Lets take it one Ntep at a time! …….No?
I hope Arsene Ntep on it to get this guy..
Dear fellow Gooners, I have this gut feeling that our club is being infested with supporters from our rivals! The majority of them coming from manure! We all know Man Utd fans are the most plastic and glory hunting fans out there, but we as a family must stay strong and withstand this. They (Man Utd fans and other Rival fans) are changing allegiances just because of our recent success. The fact that we are top of league, signed Ozil and having Arsene Wenger as manger is also a big factor. For example, just look at our Twitter and Facebook… Read more »
I understand what your saying and it did annoy me in the past but to see the fan base growing can only be good sign for Arsenal. Onwards and upwards! COYG!
Maybe you should go outside more often? Just saying
follower counts and likes change with player transfers. take Ozil for example, he has a huge fan base around the world, and many Real Madrid fans may follow/like Arsenal accounts for updates on him etc so wouldnt read too much into it.
as for the plastic fans.. well every club has them. most of Citeh and Chavski’s fan base is made of high-density polyethylene, probably most of Uniteds as well. We have one high profile one too unfortunately.. does my head in on twitter.. but his news updates sometimes make up for the headache.
Well, sure Arsenal are gaining fans at the moment. I don’t think that’s necessarily as bad as you make it out to be though. I started watching Arsenal games regurarly 3-4 years ago. It wasn’t much of a supporter, I just enjoyed watching good football, and the fact that losing actually was a possibility even if they were up 4-0 with 10 minutes to go made it a lot more interestering for a neutral observer. I took the first step towards being a supporter while living/being in various African countries. For a lot of people in Kenya, Uganda, South-Sudan there’s… Read more »
” For example, just look at our Twitter and Facebook pages, we went from 1 million followers on Twitter to 3.3 million in a span of 6 months! Same goes for our official Facebook page. Since signing Ozil back in August we went from 8 million likes to 18 million and counting! I clicked one of the newly followers on twitter and it was a bloke who follows the majority of the Man United players and Arsenal as his only team. On top of that he was “tweeting” about arsenal and repeatedly using “we” whenever he mentioned Arsenal. I found… Read more »
My brother used to be a ManUtd supporter, he even has a kit with Rooney’s name on it. However, I didn’t stop talking about whats going on at Arsenal and how exciting they are and all that, you know… When we were hanging out together at the weekend he had to watch Arsenal games all the time. Last year we went spent a lot of cash to go to the Emirates together (the 0-0 against Everton). He’s got an Oxlade-Chamberlain kit now.
This was actually meant to be a reply to RandomGonner… sigh…
Good on u to be reared for Arsenal and living near Highbury. I live in India, fed daily dose of cricket and been a fan of Arsenal since 1998 – 99 when espn started broadcasting it here. Am I any less of a supporter than someone from the British Isles? And ROMA is my 2nd club but thats soley down to Francesco Totti. Loyalty is a big deal sir. Would that mean I’m plastic as well.
Our foreign fans are obviously not 10 a rupee glory hunting cunts simply because of the lack of glory these last few years, so Bombay Gooner, I salute you sir!
I’m not exactly labelling all foreign fans plastic, but honestly if you don’t grow up in North London – where the vast majority of kids seem to support United, Liverpool or Spurs – or any other British city for that matter then you won’t understand what it means. I’m sure Arsenal mean a lot to you, and that’s fantastic. I want people to love the club like I do. But I really doubt it’s the same level of intense commitment, and that’s fine. I wouldn’t want you to, it wouldn’t make sense or be healthy for you. I follow the… Read more »
I don’t know, am I a glory hunter? I mean I did only start supporting Arsenal when they won the fourth place trophy.
RandomGonner = RandomBollocks.
One ntep beyond!!
What a team we are building. Good times to be a gooner!
I don’t get why people are angry at us signing young players. The reason why we sign so many is that very few actually make it.
The more you sign, the higher your chances will be of finding a gem. Ntep is promising and would give us an alternative to Giroud. He is faster than Giroud and not injury prone like Sanogo. That’s all we need. There’s no top striker out there right now that’s available.
Away with you and your rational, well thought out and articulated common sense. It’s not welcome on this ‘ere Internet!
Agree with that point, but up until last year we were very financially constrained and the young kids we’ve signed over the past 8 years were having difficulty breaking through for one reason or another – usually injury, so there was very little reward for the risks taken.
Now however I doubt may have any issues with it unless we’re sacrificing a decent player that we need now, for a future prospect that may or may not come good and probably wont help with the current season.
Because we are in contention for the title and against the assembled masses of man sh{}ty and Chelski, Ntep as an offensive reinforcement just isnt going to cut it. Buy unproven youngsters in the summer all you like but this January we are playing with the big boys and really need those who are going to hit the ground running. I mean come on, is this guy really going to super-sub it like Dzeko during the Ides of March?
This is ntep in the right direction!
More than happy if he pulls this 1 off, as well as draxler obv…. 😉
I don’t see it happening, at least not for another year and a half.
Besides, isn’t this guy a wide midfielder more than a striker? Never heard much about him and being the front pivot (ala Giroud)/striker when his name comes up. I’d believe it more if he actually plays more as a striker. Doesn’t make sense for that reason.
Should be signed for the pun value alone.
can’t really argue with the pun value of being able to say, “yaya’s a no-go” before every game
We should just Exchange this Sanogo bloke for this guy.
No need to have two players in the same situation fighting for a striking position that they will never get. A couple of loans down the line one of the 2 leaves the club and they dissapear then becomes a “once upon a time” story.
want to avoid another gnabry-ryo situation. Don’t beat around the bush. is it ntep or is it sanogo and go with one!
Remember campbell is still in there somewhere.
Why would we want to “avoid another Gnabry-Ryo situation”? We bought Miyaichi before Gnabry. Using your logic, we wouldn’t have bought Gnabry because we already had a young player in that position. I’m certainly glad we got both.
To vastly oversimplify matters, young players are a lottery. If we get Ntep, we’re buying another ticket, for next to nothing in the grand scheme of things. I can only see that as a good thing.
Yeah i guees the ryo-miyaichi comparison
It’SA-NO-GO!
We need a signing like Davor Suker all those years ago. Proven. Experienced. A winner….cheap.
Perhaps you can point one out to us?
I think he actually means that we should sign Davor Suker.
Di Natale maybe. Hehe
Please don’t be alluding to Berbatov.
The last time we snatched a striker under someone else’s nose, he was called Park chu yung.
I think Arsenal will be cautious this time.
*shrug*. This Ntep is tedious! Once upon a time the transfer market was easy.
Will he be a Ntep up from what we currently have though? I don’t think so.
Here comes the ntep’er (murderer)
Just another Ntep towards the title this year!!
As long as we won’t be looking to rely on him and get another first choice in – then why not bring in another potentially good striker
It’s a lot to sign a youngster like this, you could even say it’d be an Ntep-id signing.
Sign him up Wenger. I’m sure he’ll be one small Ntep for Auxerre but a giant Ntep for Arsenal. *thank u, thank u. I’ll be here all week*
If we don’t sign him, it won’t be a Tragedy (Nteps)
If we do get him, lets just hope he’s good enough to Ntep in if anything happens to HFB
Ma, I’m Ntep of the world !!
So… are we Ntepping him up?
Glasgow, I wanna thumb that up more then once. Nice one lad.
With draxler its a ntep forward
but this here is 2 nteps backward.
What makes you think that draxler is a better signing than ntep(especially given the transfer fees being reported)?
This signing, I think we should Push It through (Salt ‘N’ Ntepper)
Wow, just wow….. Bit of a creative licence required with that one huh
DRAXLER NTEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!
*Sue me! hahahaha *runs like a mad man.
Would he be the Ntep, Ntep, Ntep quality signing that Arsene likes?
All these transfer rumours get on my Nteps
Last one (before Eastenders, at least)
We Are Ntep of The League
Say, We Are Ntep of The League.
One small Ntep for a man. One giant leap for mankind. Or something.
Sorry. That was awful.
hahahahahahahahh!! you guys are just so funny.. respect to all Arseblog families. NTEPS.
I wonder if he’s got a Ntep dad? Anyways, if its cheap and talented, Even if he dont make it in Arsenal, he is sure to put some money in the bank further down the Line after our Coaches are done with him.
Tut, tut Davy Jones. Not only are you late to the party, that’s all you bring!
I think you should spend some time on the naughty Ntep for that.
It’s a no go… no wait, what are we doing now?
COYG
just sign a decent striker on loan at least
if GIROUD gets injured
i dont want to rely on BENDTNER right now
It just wouldn’t be the Arsenal I know without an acquisition of a young francophone player of African extraction y’know?
Is the sky blue sometimes?
Does the Pope know Jesus?
THNTEPTEL?
TGNTEPTEL*