Tucked away in the depths of Gazzetta dello Sport today, behind their online paywall, is an article about Arsenal interest in Joshua Zirkzee.
Of course, that’s nothing new in itself, there’s been many Italian articles about the Gunners and Zirkzee in recent weeks. However, this from Andrea Ramazzotti is a rather calmer and more sensible take.
Ramazzotti explains Arsenal had a scout watch Zirkzee again at the weekend. This interest from the Gunners causes problems for the Serie A clubs who are keen, named as AC Milan, Juventus and Napoli.
Normally, they could go and snatch a Bologna player relatively easily, but things are different this season. Thiago Motta’s success as manager sees Bologna want to act tougher in the market, and Arsenal interest only makes everything harder.
Arsenal are said to have been looking for a striker, and whilst Napoli’s Victor Osimhen was a candidate, they’ve moved on from him because the price is expected to be too high.
Napoli want €130m. There’s a chance they may come down but it’d be no surprise if Arsenal wanted to avoid jumping into the Aurelio De Laurentiis circus to find out.
De Laurentiis is notoriously difficult to deal with, his ego and stubbornness is partly behind Napoli’s collapse from being Serie A champions last season, but then that same ego and stubbornness probably helped them get there in the first place.
A drama to avoid, let Chelsea take part in that soap opera.
So, with Osimhen off the table unless something big changes, Gazzetta say it’s all eyes towards Bologna: ‘The Gunners like Zirkzee a lot and are convinced that his physical and technical qualities match perfectly with those of the rest of the team.’
Interestingly, Gazzetta say Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyokeres are other options. Earlier on Monday, we covered a report from Portugal which explained Arsenal are increasingly serious about the Sporting striker and could soon place an offer.
Back to Zirkzee, it’s explained there’s ‘the risk of an auction’, one which Gazzetta believe Arsenal could win due to ‘greater economic availability’ and ‘great charm’.
The price is being put at around €70m.
