Eddie Nketiah proves again why he will become an Arsenal superstar

The young Arsenal starlet Eddie Nketiah has scored an amazing amount of goals at every single level he has played in, and after breaking into the Gunners first team this season, the 19 year-old was picked to represent the England U21’s at the Toulon tournament.

And he hasn’t let them down, scoring two excellent individual efforts to destroy Scotland in last night’s semi-final. He just seems to carry on improving and earlier this season he talked about how he is loving training with the Arsenal first team and improving his already excellent technique. “I’ve been watching their movement, how they finish in front of goal,” Nketiah said. “Everyone has a different style, so I’m just trying to pick up a few things from them.”

Can anyone see this youngster going on to have a fantastic future with Arsenal? I can!

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Arsenal in shock Marouane Fellaini move

Arsenal in shock Marouane Fellaini move 

Arsenal have launched a shock move to sign Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini on a free transfer after he rejected two contract offers to remain at Old Trafford.

The thought of Fellaini signing for the Gunners would have seemed unthinkable under former manager Arsene Wenger, given his age and playing style, but times have changed and the new recruitment team at the Emirates Stadium see the appeal in adding him to the squad.

It is believed new Arsenal boss Unai Emery had been keen to sign the Belgium international when he was Paris Saint Germain manager and his representatives are due to meet with club officials this week. The fact he is available on a free transfer is also attractive to Arsenal given they are understood to have a transfer budget of just £50m this summer after spending heavily in the last two transfer windows.

Arsenal’s head of recruitment Sven Mislintat appears to agree with Emery regarding Fellaini’s appeal and the 30-year-old will be looking to improve on the one-year contract, worth £80,000-a-week, that he has turned down at Manchester United.

According to sources in France, Fellaini would prefer to sign for Arsenal than move to Italy, where a number of clubs, including AC Milan have an interest, although it is thought he is still negotiating with United as well.

The presence of another Premier League club in the background could well be a tool to leverage a better deal out of his current employers, but Arsenal could well be a more attractive option if he has been promised a key role in a new look team by Emery

Although United are set to sign Brazilian midfielder Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk in the next 48 hours after he travelled to Manchester for a medical, manager Jose Mourinho has made it clear that he wants to keep Fellaini.

Signed from Everton for £27.5m by David Moyes in the summer of 2013, Fellaini has not always been popular with supporters, even though he has been a key first team player under three different managers at Old Trafford.

Whether Arsenal are able to agree a deal with the player remains to be seen and it is likely that he will delay making a decision until after the World Cup.

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Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere reportedly set to join Crystal Palace

Fitness struggles

Wilshere’s injury troubles over the course of his career have been widely covered in the press, with a string of lengthy spells on the sidelines having held the technically-gifted star back from a potentially top-class career.

Following a nightmare campaign during which he managed just 3 Premier League appearances for the Gunners in 2015/16, Wilshere was sent out on loan to Bournemouth last season.

He managed a respectable 27 league outings with the Cherries, but a hairline crack in his calfbone in April ruled the marauding midfielder out until August.

Return to form

Despite being heavily linked with a move away from the Emirates last summer, Wilshere surprisingly remained in North London, with his impressive early-season performances in the Carabao Cup and Europa League having led to a Premier League recall for the Englishman.

On the move?

But, as per the latest reports spreading across social media this afternoon, it is now surprisingly being claimed that Wilshere is in fact inching towards a move to Selhurst Park to link up with Crystal Palace.

The story, which first came to light this morning through a Polish Crystal Palace fan site, revealed that an individual who works at the training base in Malmo where the Eagles are due to travel next month was informed that Wilshere would be part of Roy Hodgson’s travelling squad.

The news has since led to a number of other sources insisting that Wilshere is indeed set to depart Arsenal imminently, with the English midfielder’s odds of joining Palace having dropped from 25/1 to just 4/1 with SkyBet over the last couple of hours.

Roy Hodgson is known to be a huge admirer of the talents of Wilshere, with the 26-year-old having also been heavily linked with a move to Selhurst Park last summer.

And, though this afternoon’s news is far from an official confirmation of his departure from the Emirates, growing sections of Arsenal’s fans are now in agreement that they have likely seen Wilshere line out in a Gunners’ jersey for the final time.

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Deal close – Versatile player to sign for Arsenal

Arsenal are close to completing their first summer signing under the management of new boss Unai Emery.

According to L’Equipe, French international Yacine Adli has rejected the chance to stay with Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain and instead, he is close to joining Arsenal.

The French source has claimed that even the likes of European champions Real Madrid and German giants Bayern Munich covered the 17-year-old midfielder but perhaps the project proposed by the Gunners has convinced him the most.

The teenage starlet is a versatile talent, who naturally plays in the central midfield but at times, he has been deployed in the No.10 role as well.

In the last campaign, Adli featured in 7 UEFA Youth League fixtures for PSG and scored one goal. So far, he has made 7 appearances for France’s U-18 side and scored 3 goals.

Two months back, in an interview with Goal.com, the midfielder stated:

“I think I’ve become more mature, largely thanks to my integration into the adult game with the reserves, certain training sessions with the professionals. I’ve also improved technically, tactically thanks to David Hernandez, who I’ve watched a lot of videos with, which has really helped me.

“But I think there are still some aspects I can improve. I’m aiming higher, so I’m full of things that can make me better.”

During Emery’s time at PSG, he showed a lot of faith in a number of youngsters and Adli was one of them. Therefore, it is clear that the Spanish manager’s presence at the Emirates is the key reason why the Gunners are close to signing Adli.

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Arsenal have reportedly declared interest in signing Gareth Bale this summer.

Arsenal have reportedly declared interest in signing Gareth Bale this summer.

The Real Madrid hero is eyeing a move away from the Bernabeu, despite winning his fourth Champions League winner’s medal in just four years.

Bale has been out of favour by Zinedine Zidane this season and started just over half of Real’s La Liga matches.

Other than his links with Tottenham, the forward is suggested to be attracting strong interest from Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain which could also see Unai Emery’s side struggle to land him.

Bale’s lack of match time this season still saw him fire in 16 goals in La Liga.

He also netted a spectacular overhead kick in the Champions League final to seal Real Madrid’s triumph in a row – a record.

It’s uncertain how much the the Welshman could cost, but the saga is likely to role on till the end of the summer.

Gooners, would you like to see Bale at Arsenal? Let us know in the comments…

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Arsene Wenger: 'Arsenal tried to sign Lionel Messi'

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that the club tried to sign Lionel Messi from Barcelona in 2003.

The Gunners were interested in three Barcelona players - Messi, Gerard Pique and Cesc Fabregas - before they broke into the first team at the Camp Nou, but were forced to settle for only the latter, who went on to make more than 300 appearances for the club.

Pique instead joined Manchester United before returning to Barcelona, whereas Messi stayed at Barcelona his entire career and has since established himself as arguably the greatest footballer of all time.

"The story of Cesc Fabregas is that Franny Cagiago and Steve Rowley brought the player here and we had to convince him. I met Cesc's parents and at the time we were interested in Messi and Pique as well," Wenger told Arsenal's official website.

"We tried for the three but of course it didn't work out, but we got a gem there in Cesc and he is an exceptional player. A brain for football. [It didn't work out with Messi and Pique] because of the agents. I think it was linked with Nike at the time and they wanted Pique to go to Man United.

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Ornstein reveals plan as Sokratis Papastathopoulos deal close

That’s according to BBC Sport journalist David Ornstein, who says Sven Mislintat is behind the Gunners’ move for the Greece international.

Arsenal are in the midst of a summer of change following Unai Emery's appointment as Arsene Wenger's successor at the Emirates.

Emery takes on the role of head coach in the club's new continental model, with Mislintat and Raul Sanllehi in charge of recruitment.

And Ornstein, who broke news of Emery's appointment, says the 29-year-old's arrival is part of a wider plan to buy seasoned stars.

"As per @JackPittBrooke Arsenal close to signing Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Dortmund," he wrote on Twitter.

"Latest acquisition led by Sven Mislintat, continues drive to rebuild defence/squad with experience/leadership.

"#AFC prioritising ready players & will integrate youth (eg Mavropanos) over time."

Arsenal are said to be paying around £16m for Papastathopoulos, who joined Dortmund from Werder Bremen in 2013.

They are believed to have budgeted for just £50m net spend going into the summer window - far less than those of their Premier League rivals.

Transfer guru Guillem Balague believes Arsenal can make that projected amount work by boosting their funds with sales though.

"Up until now, as everybody knows, everything had to go through Arsene Wenger but Unai Emery is happy to repeat the same position he has had at Sevilla, Valencia and PSG in which he was a head coach," said Balague.

"This means - if it's the same infrastructure - he can advise on what kind of players he needs and the club goes and gets them, for instance, and he won't have much of a say in the amount of budget that's needed. That will be down to the club.

"He will do what he is the best at - maximise the potential of the side and take the players out of their comfort zone. He will try and put a different kind of training, an intense training, in place with the idea that it gets transmitted into the games.

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Arsenal linked with cut-price Stoke midfielder

There has been much talk about Arsenal’s very small transfer war chest; 50 million if you believe some rumours and 70 million if you believe others. With it looking like Emery’s first signing is going to be the free agent Stefan Lichsteiner from Juventus it is entirely possible that Arsenal could also be tempted by the Senegal international Badou Ndiaye, who could have a cup-price get-out clause after seeing Stoke City relegated this season.

Badou (real name = Papa Alioune Ndiaye) only arrived at Stoke from Galatasary in January and has only played 13 times for the Potters, but it has been revealed he can leave by the Galatasaray correspondent Mehmet Ozcan, who was quoted as saying: “Ndiaye has a clause in his contract so he could leave on certain conditions. From Turkey I know that Fenerbahce and Besiktas met his representatives over a potential move.

“I also know that three clubs from the Premier League want him.”

Ndiaye was very highly rated at Stoke despite them getting relegated and he could be a surprise star of the future. He is big and strong and could help out the Gunners leaky defence next season. He only cost Stoke £14m in January so could by a value signing. Is he worth a gamble at that price?

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Arsenal 'eye Lorenzo Pellegrini move'

Arsenal are reportedly interested in signing Roma midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini this summer.

Pellegrini, 21, scored three times in 37 appearances for Roma during the 2017-18 campaign.

The midfielder only returned to Roma last summer following a spell at Sassuolo, but it is understood that he has a £26m release clause inserted into his current deal.

According to Sky Sports News, new Arsenal boss Unai Emery is interested in signing the three-time Italy international, although Juventus are also considering an approach.

Pellegrini featured in Italy's 1-1 draw with England back in March.

According to Sky Sport Italia pundit Gianluca Di Marzio, Arsenal and their new manager Unai Emery have set their sights on Pellegrini for next season.

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