The Gunners were shocked by the injury sustained to Gabriel Jesus, who came off in their FA Cup third round defeat to Manchester United, with the Brazilian sustaining a season-ending ACL injury.
That has led to rumours that Arsenal will now head into the transfer market to look for a temporary or permanent replacement for the Brazil international.
When asked if Jesus’ injury heightened their need to bring in reinforcements in the winter window, Mikel Arteta told reporters: “My answer doesn’t change. We are actively looking into the market to improve the squad. We always have been. It would be naive not too. We are looking and we are trying, so let’s see what we can do.
“To recruit a player there are three parties who have to agree to that. The fact I love my players doesn’t mean we can’t think about improving. We do daily and when the market comes around we have to make sure we have the best resources and capacity to compete the way that we want to.”
Sesko has been linked with a move to Arsenal with the Gunners reportedly ‘in talks’ over a potential deal, while there have been other claims of a potential loan.
But Sesko’s agent, Elvis Basanovic, has dismissed the speculation, he told GiveMeSport: “I don’t know where this story has come from but I have never talked with Arsenal about a loan move for Sesko.
“Sesko is not a player for loans and this was never a topic with Arsenal or any other club. If you ask me if Sesko will move in January, I can only say Sesko is a RB Leipzig player and fully focused on that.”
When asked about interest in general from Premier League clubs, Basanovic replied: “RB Leipzig are the right people to ask these kinds of questions.”
And transfer expert Romano brought his own update on Friday morning with the Italian insisting that only something “completely crazy” could see Sesko join Arsenal in January.
Romano wrote on GiveMeSport:
‘The situation is quite clear – a loan move was never discussed between Arsenal and Leipzig, despite reports. It’s never been a possibility, not even with an obligation to buy as RB Leipzig would never open the door to that sort of deal and Arsenal are well-informed on that. Yes, they are well-informed because Sesko is high on their list since last summer and remains one of the most appreciated players by the Gunners’ management.
‘But a deal in January is considered highly unlikely by Arsenal as RB Leipzig have informed all the clubs weeks ago that it’s a complicated season for them, with many injuries and also the Noah Okafor deal collapsing. That means they can’t sell a key player like Sesko – it’s not under discussion for January and only something completely crazy could change the scenario.
‘RB Leipzig insist that there’s no release clause available in January and they are not planning to let Sesko leave now, so it looks really complicated to make things happen in this window.
‘For sure, Arsenal will keep contacts active for the summer as they always did after the decision made by Sesko to reject every proposal in June to stay at Leipzig for one more season. Arsenal remain attentive to his development and Chelsea are also doing the same, while Liam Delap must also be included in the list of options they’ve been considering in recent months.
‘Sources suggest that even the €60/65m rumored fee in the English press would not be enough to convince RB Leipzig in January, just to confirm how complicated it would be to get a move done in this window.’
Viktor Gyokeres is another player on Arteta’s list at Arsenal and French publication L’Equipe has claimed that the Gunners are ‘no longer reluctant to pay’ his €100m release clause at Sporting CP.
Gyokeres, who was striker at Sporting under new Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim, has scored an incredible 32 goals in 28 appearances for the Portuguese side this term.
0 Comments