Well respected BBC journalist David Ornstein has taken to Twitter to offer an update on Arsenal’s reported interest in Shkodran Mustafi, Julian Draxler and Riyad Mahrez.
Let’s start with Mustafi and we’ve been strongly linked with the German international in recent weeks with Arsene Wenger reportedly making him his top target as the boss looks to sign a new centre-back.
The Mirror are one of several media outlets who have claimed that Mustafi is keen on joining Arsenal with Valencia willing to do business at around £25m, while the Daily Mail suggest that we’re lining-up an opening £15m offer.
While Ornstein confirms that we do have an interest in the 24-year-old, he insists no offer has been made as yet and he says we could face competition from the likes of Chelsea.
If true, we should act quickly to get a deal agreed as the last thing we want is having to go up against Chelsea. Valencia are currently in London on their pre-season tour so there is no reason why we shouldn’t be seizing the opportunity to thrash out a deal this week if Arsene really does want him.
No interest in Draxler or Mahrez
Ornstein went on to confirm that we want a striker without naming any names but the BBC journo revealed that Arsenal have NO interest in signing either Draxler or Mahrez.
We’ve been strongly linked with Mahrez this summer and reports earlier this week coming from Algerian outlet Le Buteur claimed that the Leicester attacker agreed to join Arsenal following talks with Wenger.
The paper said that a potential £38m deal was in the offing after Mahrez had rejected Leicester’s offer of a new deal by informing them he wanted to move to the Emirates.
The Julian Draxler to Arsenal rumours started after he did an interview with Bild earlier this week where he revealed that he’d told Wolfsburg he wanted to leave this summer and Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solhekol claimed he wanted to join Arsenal.
Fans have been discussing which of Mahrez or Draxler we should be signing and discussing how we’d line-up with either of them in our team, however, it looks like we’ve jumped the gun a little as Ornstein insists Arsenal have no interest in either player.
For those who aren’t aware, Ornstein is regarded as the ‘mouthpiece’ for Arsenal on Twitter as it’s widely thought he is fed information by the club, so that’s always worth noting when he comes out with something.
His comments don’t necessarily mean we don’t have interest in Mahrez or Draxler, it just means that’s what Arsenal want us to believe right now. It could be true, or perhaps the club want to keep things quiet for now. Who knows.
Let’s just see what the next few weeks bring us….
#AFC interested in signing Valencia defender Mustafi. No bid yet + others inc#CFC keen. Also want a striker but not pursuing Mahrez/Draxler— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david)
