It seems like Arsene Wenger has finally managed to grab hold of players he believes are worthy of the cost and talent to be signed (not to mention, ups for grab and not being chased by any other massive club). German defender Shkodran Mustafi has reached a £35m five year deal with the Gunners and will be having his medical very soon at London.
Mustafi who had an impressive season with Valencia last year will strengthen Gunners defense where he’ll be joined by his German teammate Per Mertasacker.
Sources also claim Arsenal are close to signing Spanish striker Lucas Perez from Deportivo La Coruna. The 27 year old played 37 games for Deportivo last season, bagging in 17 goals. The deal would probably end Arsenal’s long search for a replacement for Olivier Giroud, however it still isn’t the big name signing the Arsenal fans were looking for.
Wenger initially started the scavenging for a striker and a playmaker with the Leicester forward Jamie Vardy, he then went on to try to bag the Leicester duo Mahrez and Vardy, however both deals fell apart after the duo decided to stay loyal to their club.
Higuain was on Wenger’s list for a long time but unfortunately for the Frenchmen the Argentine striker joined Juventus for £75.3m. To Wenger’s credit he did bring in Granit Xhaka to strengthen the midfield.
Griezmann also turned down an offer from the Gunners as they kept an eye out for a potential striker. The elevated prices for players has had Wenger speaking out regarding the ongoing trend
Today in Europe you have two markets,” said Wenger. “One for the English clubs and one for the rest of Europe. The danger of the English situation is that the English clubs can suffocate themselves in the long term. Why? Because they buy players at a very high price. That means there are very high wages linked with it and, if they are wrong, they will have these players with high wages who cannot move anywhere else.”
“I have told you before the criteria for the price of a player but you could add one more: the identity of the buyer. When the buyer is English, it is true that it multiplies the transfer by two or three or sometimes by 10. If an English club does not come in, he is worth £5 million but, if an English club comes for the same player, he is worth £35 million or 40 or 50.”
