There have been some major Arsenal transfer rumours about the Gunners stepping up their pursuit of Sporting Lisbon defender Ousmane Diomande, but Fabrizio Romano has attempted to explain where he thinks the story has come from.
Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his latest column for the Daily Briefing, Romano made it clear that he was not yet aware of anything concrete going on with Arsenal and Diomande, so it may be that Gooners will have to calm down a bit about this particular piece of speculation.
Although the talented young Ivory Coast international is attracting a lot of interest from top clubs around Europe, it seems there isn’t necessarily anything concrete going on with Arsenal, with the rumours likely arising because of the north London giants’ interest in his Sporting teammate Viktor Gyokeres.
It seems Arsenal are more strongly considering signing Gyokeres, according to Romano, so the transfer news expert suggests this might also have led to some sources playing up links with Diomande as well.
Diomande transfer: Are Arsenal links just arising from Gyokeres interest?
“Gyokeres’ Sporting teammate Ousmane Diomande has also been linked with the Gunners very strongly by some sections of the Portuguese press, so what’s really going on with this one?” Romano wrote in today’s column.
“I think this story is coming out because Arsenal sent their scouts regularly to follow players in Portugal, like Gyokeres who’s one of the players they have been following for a long time. On Diomande, however, I’m not aware of talks or negotiations yet; but there are really many clubs interested, so we’re absolutely far from a solution/negotiation or anything close or concrete yet.”
Both Diomande and Gyokeres look like they’d be fine signings for Arsenal, though Mikel Arteta probably needs a striker more than a defender right now due to the great depth at the back in his squad right now, contrasted to the injury-prone Gabriel Jesus and out-of-form Eddie Nketiah up front.