Since his move from Chelsea, the Brazilian-Italian has not seen much game time in North London. He has played just 145 minutes of Premier League football this season.
What is not surprising is that he is potentially looking for a move away just a year after joining us for £10million. At 31-years-old, he clearly wants to be playing regularly. What is a suprise is that it is (seemingly) Barcelona in for him.
You would expect the same problems he faced at Chelsea and Arsenal (being a back-up player) would also exist in Barcelona.
On one hand, I think “if they offer us £10m for him, they can have him”, on the other, we are set to face a month or more without Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny early next year. Jorginho could be key for the period they are out in the Ivory Coast for – and the 2 weeks or more that it often takes African players to return to Premier League fitness after the tournament.
My gut is this is Jorginho and his people sounding out potential suitors for a summer move – his 18-month Arsenal contract expires at the end of the season.Emile Smith Rowe
Another being linked away is Emile Smith Rowe.
This time of year is always an interesting one as players who maybe could have moved last summer but decidedd to stay begin to get itchy feet.
The door was certainly left ajar for Smith Rowe to depart last summer “if the correct offer came in”. In the end, both club and player decided to stick rather than twist. Smith Rowe has played just 9 minutes of Premier League football since.
There wil lcertainly be clubs interested in Smith Rowe in January. He has that on-field energy that could give a European chasing side a boost.
Newcastle are the ones currently being linked, but you could also see West Ham and Brighton sniff about if they are still in the race for the Europa League.
Like last summer, I think Arsenal will struggle to turn down a bid of £30m for a player who is clearly not in Mikel Arteta’s plans (queue the moaning that he should be!).
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens
We must be getting close to the clocks going back as silly season is picking up speed.
German publication BILD have linked us to Borussia Dortmund’s English winger Jamie Bynoe-Gittens. The 19-year-old joined Dortmund from Manchester City 18-months ago.
Bynoe-Gittens is certainly not putting in the performances of Jadon Sancho – who made the same move from Manchester to Dortmund at a similar age.Considering we have Amario Cozier-Duberry and Charles Sagoe Jr around the same age, I would not expect us to move for another teenage winger. Then again, I said the same when we were linked with Gabriel Martinelli.
Also interesting to note that in the same article, BILD linked Bynoe-Gittens with Newcastle. Is this just an agent looking to move his client back to England having failed to settle in Germany? He has “set to replace Michael Olise at Crystal Palace next Summer” written all over him.
Shin pads
We have recently been working with our friends over at Kick Off Merchants on some fantastic Arsenal shin pads.
They have some brilliant designs, with the kit versions being customisable with your name and number. They will make a great Christmas present for your son or daughter (and the bruised banana shin pads will make a great gift for yourself!).
They have kindly given us the code SheWore10 for 10% off all their Arsenal shin pads, exclusive to readers of todays blog (expired midnight tonight).
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