The Guardian report that Arsenal face competition from Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, and Barcelona for Lille’s attacking midfielder Sofiane Boufal.
The Moroccan international scored 12 times for the Ligue Un side last year, as well as picking up 11 yellow and two red cards, and has impressed greatly in his first full season at the club following a €4m move from Angers last January.
Arsene Wenger is keen to boost his attacking options this summer, and the 22 year old certainly ticks many of the Frenchman’s boxes.
The player’s agent has confirmed that there is interest from England, saying, “In England, there is interest, but the English market is just beginning. A transfer of 20 and 25 million euros is not resolved in two weeks, of course.”
He confirmed he’d had talks with Barcelona but suggested Boufal would prefer to go somewhere to play more regularly.
“Now the reflection is whether Sofiane Boufal will go to Barcelona to compete with MSN (Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar) or should he go to a club where he is going to start matches and express his exceptional talent.”
It’s a bit left-field this one, and it does sound a bit like an agent talking up a client to garner some interest, so we’re going high on the Poo-o-Meter. Obligatory YouTube SKILLZ video to follow.
Anyone get the feeling our principle criteria for a striker is being cheap?
Agreed, we could have gotte Messi, but we only offered 2 £ and a whatever was in Wenger’s pocket at that moment.
n*
A rocket
Lol, thumbs up for making it funny but Messi’s parents wanted a flat in London.
I’ve got nothing against the lad but he seems like a potential player not the finished article.
I personally would like the club to go for the latter option. We have had enough of the near misses in recent years.
The problem is there are so few finished articles who will score bags more than Giroud who don’t cost a fortune & aren’t in their late 20s & are realistic targets. Who knows what Wenger has in mind but once you take away the unrealistic targets who is left that isn’t somewhat speculative?
Got ahead of myself there but the point still stands. Unless Wenger doesn’t rate what we have then I can’t see this happening. He’d have to be ahead of the Ox, Walcott who may be on the way out, Campbell, Iwobi & even Ramsey in AW’s estimation to be getting regular games
So based on that thinking, you would have been unhappy if we had signed Ozil in 2009, Cavani in 2009, Hazard in 2011, because they were not the finished product? Again based on that thinking were you unhappy with us signing Bergkamp, Henry, Vieira, Van Persie and Anelka? It sounds like you want Arsenal to become the old New York Yankees who just purchased their way to titles. Is that the Arsenal way?
20-25 million euros? We’ll start the bidding at Yaya Sanogo plus 1 pound
Unless he’s super super amazing, we already go Chamberlain, Campbell, and technically Walcott. We need someone like Greizman although that obviously doesn’t seem like happening. Yea this news is bogus, but then let’s not forget Sonogo
Trust me on this one, the guy is a real beast on the pitch. He just need love & respect from the fans.
A veritable torrent of diarrhoea
I think the guy is good but we can go for Mahrez or that Dortmund guy. Both are ready
But we have Giroud, Ozil, Alexis and Theo.
Why wouldn’t he want to play with our GOAT!?
Play with our GOAT, damnit Sofiane!
But in all seriousness, if we’re going for another attacking midfielder/winger Mahrez is the main candidate I’d like to see at the Emirates. He was unbelievable last season.
Is that a euphemism for something?
You won’t know until you stroke it…
The kid’s got skills
I foresee Wenger buying a defender and a striker and throw away the safe keys.the upcoming academy players need to be given a chance as well.
All these agents just love mentioning Arsenal as a potential destination for their clients.
Yeah the agents love an Arsenal link. I think it’s because other clubs will know they could still get the player if they want him.
Thanks Blogger. Emoji Poo is now visible on mobile.
We need signings that will improve us for the title next season and this one is definitely not. We should continue our style in recent windows of signing from the big teams. In that case we get quality as well as a player with winning mentality.
Gabriel Barbosa
It’s more likely than Morata, I guess. I hate the transfer window 🙁
Pooberg dead ahead!
Here is a little list of the top scorers in a few (11) leagues across Europe. I have listed the players with 20 + goals in the league during the 2015/16 season. Note that Leagues such as the Swedish Allsvenskan starts in April and well, if someone had gotten 20 goals already, it would probably be the next Zlatan. Anyway: EPL Kane (25) Vardy (24) Agüero (24) BBVA Bitey Racist (40) Ronaldo (35) Messi (26) Benzema (24) Neymar (24) Griezmann (22) Aritz Adruiz (20) Eredivise Janssen (27) De Jong (26) Milik (21) Ligue 1 Zlatan (38) Lacazette (21) Serie A… Read more »
Milik.
No, I have never watched him play. But this guy is young, highly regarded at Ajax, has the attributes of a proper center forward, is already an established player for club and country and won’t cost the house. If we were to pursue him, I won’t call it a gamble but an investment worth a minimum guarantee.
Whilst your post is impressive given you’ve attached evidence, it doesn’t really detail enough for me. I’d be more interested to see a goals per game/minute ratio (given injuries, sub appearances and mid-season transfers/loans), overall contribution (as in assists also, because thats a crucial role for a ST at Arsenal too), and shot to goal ratio (as there may be strikers who only hit the back of the net 10-15 times but genuinely get very little service). Open up those statistical windows and you’ll see the options aren’t so thread bare.
I have made the list based only on who has scored 20 goals or more in league play. The reason I made the list is to snuff out the tedious “Arsenal need to sign a world class 20 goals in the league striker” arguement. While all of your points are valid, the list is kept simple so that the people who call for that striker can see for themselves who is available. I am sorry for the patronizing tone, I do understand that all the talk is born out of frustration. However it becomes equally frustrating to read and hear… Read more »
Lacazette? Might be a bit of a gamble and would probably cost 30-40 mil € but would be a different option to Giroud and has a good scoring record now from consecutive seasons. Know people have different opinions about him but I think he could improve under wenger. Don’t see any better options who would possibly want to come.
Milik has looked good at the Euros so far. Better than big lebowski in fact …
Agents love to link to us as it is a stamp of quality.
He’s more a winger.
Looks good. Next…
Seriously?!
Sign a bloody striker who bangs in the goals and that we’ve actually heard of! We have no time for another 17 year old from France, Nigeria etc etc to grown into the position.
Oh and centreback. Remember that area of the pitch?
Fabian schar has looked pretty solid so far for the Swiss.
Wake up everyone.
This is another post Highbury Wenger transfer saga.
So booring.
Yet been offered another 3 yr deal
Cccccrrrraaaazzzzzy.
Wenger out
Yo guys, WTF? Honestly??? According to the quality of england born players in the epl, added to your comments (most), I can clearly see the general IQ level going around in UK: Below 0. Boufal is the real deal, and it was his first year in the Ligue1: as a midfielder, he score 12 goals in a weak team, ALL UNEFFINGBELIEVABLE, tried and succeeded more dribbles than Neymar & Messi himself, scored half of his goals with the left foot (his weak foot), he is one of the leaders of his team in steals… COME ON guys, for God’s sake,… Read more »
Surprised to see all the scepticism as well, esp. considering what Mahrez and Kante did this year after excelling in smaller teams in France. He had some incredible club performances and is simply a huge prospect. And with the lack of penetrating wingplay we (and most other Prem teams) have, it’s definitely a gamble worth taking.
It’s funny he has a lot of cards and came from “angers”