Arsenal transfer news may be about to get interesting as Real Madrid look set to embark upon a major clear out this summer.
The Spanish giants are supposedly preparing to sell nine first-team players at the end of this season, with rumoured Arsenal transfer targets Luka Jovic and Marco Asensio among those.
El Nacional claim Real president Florentino Perez is prepared to offload these big names, with Jovic recently linked as a target for Arsenal by Marca, while both the Gunners and Liverpool have been linked with Asensio by Super Deporte.
If it were possible for Arsenal to get both of these players in, it could end up being smart business by Mikel Arteta and co., with attacking reinforcements clearly needed at the Emirates Stadium.
Jovic and Asensio may not be showing their best form at the moment, but the Madrid duo remain top class when they’re fully fit and confident, so it could be good for them to leave the Bernabeu and revive their careers elsewhere.
Arteta has done fine work since signing Martin Odegaard from Los Blancos, so perhaps it’s worth trying his luck with Jovic and Asensio as well.
If they could regain their best form, they’d give Arsenal perfect replacements for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who left for Barcelona in January, and Nicolas Pepe, who has fallen out of favour and who surely doesn’t have a long-term future at the club.
Why Arsenal would want a striker who scored 1 goal and provided 2 assists in 281 minutes over 13 league games is a mystery. How anyone could rationally make a claim that Jovic is top class is beyond all comprehension. A player has to play to be judged, and Jovic has hardly played. His cleats have not dug into the Bernabeu turf since February 12th when he logged 16 minutes as a sub against Villareal. He played 109 minutes of Champions League football; which of course is 109 minutes more than any Arsenal player, but not impressive considering Real Madrid played 720 minutes of Champions League football.
When he has played, he’s been mediocre. Not bad. Not great. Blah.
Replacing Aubameyang and Lacazette, who at their worst performed head and shoulders better than Jovic, seems unlikely.