We’ve got a bit of a strange one on Tuesday, because an outlet that doesn’t normally do exclusives has a rather big one and we don’t know what to do with it.
It involves Florian Thauvin and the possibility of him returning to England for a second go at the Premier League, but this time with Arsenal.
The Marseille winger first left his current club back in 2015, swapping the south of France for Newcastle, only to return six months later for two consecutive loans, eventually being bought back in 2017 for £6m less.
Since his return to France, the 26-year-old has blossomed into a 10 league goals and 10 league assists (minimum) kind of player, and has become a regular for Didier Deschamps’ France squads over the past year or so.
The problem this season is Thauvin has reached a point where he wants to take his game to the next level, meaning the Champions League, but Marseille, currently fifth in Ligue 1, look as if they will miss out on the elite European competition once again.
Five points behind third placed Lyon with six games to go, Rudi Garcia’s men still have to face Bruno Génésio and co., meaning they’ll be needing their rivals to slip up at least once more.
Foot-Sur7 on Tuesday claim that Thauvin is expected to leave his club in the summer if they don’t make it to the Champions League, and a number of clubs are looking at him, including Arsenal, as Unai Emery ‘really appreciates’ the Frenchman.
Bayern Munich, Milan, Inter and Roma are also all said to be keeping an eye on the situation.
However, and this is important, Foot-Sur7 point out Thauvin will not undergo ‘concrete negotiations’ with any of these teams unless they have qualified for the Champions League.
That means Unai Emery has been warned: if you want the 26-year-old, you will need to finish in the top four or win the Europa League.
Honestly, and we know you didn’t ask for our opinion but we’ll give it to you anyway, we can’t see Thauvin returning to England anytime soon, mostly based on his past experiences in the country.
If the opportunity to play Champions League football in Italy or Germany (or even Spain) presents itself first, it’s almost certain he’ll take that before a transfer north of the Channel.
