Just when Arsenal fans were starting to seriously question their club’s plan for the transfer window (if they hadn’t started doing that already), the club appear to have shifted into third gear to get something done.
Alexandre Lacazette and Shkodran Mustafi have been the big targets, while Riyad Mahrez has been talked about sporadically by the press, but without anything concrete really happening.
Until now, that is.
At least, that’s what Gilles Favard, a consultant for L’Equipe in France, had to say on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon, claiming Arsenal had made a £30m bid for Riyad Mahrez, which appears to have been rejected by the Premier League champions.
“Le Spectre” “Marhez” Arsenal a fait une offre de 30 millions de livres refusé par Leicester !
— GillesFavard (@GillesFavard) August 10, 2016
The consultant followed up by saying the London club would ‘increase their bid’ for the Algerian winger, and also made it clear the player himself wanted to join last season’s runners-up.
“Le Spectre” Arsenal va augmenter l’offre concernant “Marhez” !!
— GillesFavard (@GillesFavard) August 10, 2016
If that wasn’t enough, he also claimed the player’s agent was already meeting with Leicester to try and get a move for his client.
“Le Spectre” L’agent de “Marhez” est a “Leicester” le bras de fer est commencé !!
— GillesFavard (@GillesFavard) August 10, 2016
Of course, it’s worth pointing out Mr Favard’s track record isn’t exemplary (he thought Vincent Janssen was going to Paris Saint-Germain), but not every journalist’s is as things change in football.
It’s the first news of an actual move for Mahrez from Arsenal, meaning we wouldn’t get too excited just yet, and it’ll be interesting to see if anyone follows up on the claim in the coming hours.
