Arsenal have Bundesliga player ‘in focus’ for what would be hugely surprising transfer

On Sunday evening Bild reported Manchester United have opened negotiations to sign Jerome Boateng from Bayern Munich.

Naturally, as seems to happen with most of Bild’s big transfer claims, Germany’s Kicker then published a very similar story, claiming it was their own information, and adding a bit.

The bit Kicker added is that Arsenal also have the player ‘in focus’.

Arsenal making a move for the Germany international would be hugely surprising, if only because of the player’s likely cost, both in terms of transfer fee and wages, related to his age.

The Gunners have been working to a budget and looking to work it well for Unai Emery.

Splashing €50m, which is what Bayern are supposed to want, on a defender turning 30 years of age in September just doesn’t seem to fit the way things have been going.

If Arsenal did have €50m to spend in the few days before the window closes, it’s got to be unlikely they’d send it to Bayern Munich for Jerome Boateng.