With a widely reported ‘small budget’ and no big sales to potentially bolster the coffers, any claims of Arsenal preparing huge bids for players will be met with a raised eyebrow, at least down our end.
It happened when the Gunners were linked with Nicolas Pépé, and it’s happened again with Nicolo Zaniolo.
On Saturday, we covered a story from Gazzetta dello Sport, who claimed Arsenal had arrived late on the scene, with few details to go with it.
Previous reports have stated Zaniolo would cost somewhere between €40-60m, which seems outside of the Gunners’ budget, who are already planning on spending a chunk of their funds on Celtic’s Kieran Tierney.
Fast forward to Monday, and Corriere della Sera also mention Unai Emery’s side in their article about Zaniolo, yet their claim is even less believable than Gazzetta’s.
They state Arsenal contacted the youngster’s agent to let him know they had €60m “cash” ready to offer and were asking about the player’s desire to play in the Premier League.
As bold claims go, this is up there, and even the staunchest members of the Emirates faithful will struggle to believe their club has €60m lying around in a suitcase ready to pay for Zaniolo.
