Arsenal’s opening bid of £16m for Juventus midfielder Mario Lemina has been rejected by the Italian giants and if reports are to be believed, Juventus have put up a price tag of £20m on the player and will not be budging until and unless the price is met.
Lemina completed his permanent move to Juventus from French outfit Marseille this summer after spending a season-long loan period at the Old Lady during the 2015-16 campaign. The 22-year-old midfielder signed a four-year contract with Juventus in a deal believed to be in the region of €9.5m with an additional €1m as add-ons if performance related targets are met.
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The Gunners have been frustrated in their pursuit of the talented youngster as the Italian outfit is reluctant to let the Gabonese international leave, having just signed him permanently this summer. While the Italian club value the 22-year-old at a whopping £20 million, it remains to be seen if Arsene Wenger, a man who has often been too prudent for the fan's liking in the transfer market would be willing to shell out that sort of money for Lemina.
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The 22-year-old Gabon International is also wanted by Schalke and if the deal does not conclude soon, then Arsenal may find themselves in the middle of a bidding war for the player. Given that the side is already thin on attacking and defensive options, the astute French manager might be forced into letting the chance to pursue the Juventus go by in a bid to secure quality signings to add to the side’s attacking firepower and defensive muscle.
As of now, the Gunners have signed three new players this summer with Granit Xhaka and Rob Holding being the only first team addition. Their attempts to sign more players in the squad have been deemed unsuccessful so far, with a recent link up being Valencia’s Shkodran Mustafi. Arsenal have been linked with Mustafi for some time now.
However, the negotiations to bring the player to the Emirates seem to have stalled and according to reports the Gunners boss is considering Omer Toprak or Simon Kjaer as an alternative if the deal to sign Shkodran falls through. Bayern Leverkusen’s Toprak is reportedly Wenger’s preferred alternative after Shkodran, as he is a quality player and will surely bring a lot of experience in the Gunners’ back-line.
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Arsenal need players in different positions and entering into a bidding war for a central midfielder when they need to bolster their squad on either end of the pitch is not what they should be doing at this point of time. Dilly-dallying at a crucial time will leave the Gunners in a tough position and would weaken their pursuit for silverware.
Having been beaten by Liverpool at home in the opening fixture, the Gunners travel to the King Power Stadium on Saturday to face the Champions Leicester City and the side’s fans will be hoping for a reversal of their fortunes on the pitch as well as in the transfer market.
