Arsenal: Depressing Cengiz Under rumors sound painfully true

It’s hard to weed out the lies from the truth in the Arsenal transfer rumor world, but the latest reports from Cengiz Under sound painfully true.

Arsenal manager Unai Emery spoke up about what his club needed this January transfer window, and I don’t think you’d find anyone disagreeing with him. He said that we need a central defender and some help on the wings.

Obviously. This is what we’ve been saying for months, if not years. The defensive problems are only getting worse and worse with the injuries to the club, but the winger issue has been around for awhile.

It’s so clear how well the Gunners play when they stretch the length of the pitch. That has only happened when wingbacks have been on the pitch, however. And that’s because there are no wingers on the club. Alex Iwobi is doing his best to pose as one, and Ainsley Maitland-Niles is doing well enough in the small capacity that he’s been used as a winger, but let’s be honest, neither of them is best suited as a winger.

Enter Cengiz Under – a talented young winger making headway in Serie A with Roma. With six goals and eights assists to his name, there has been talk that he could be the solution that Arsenal are searching for.

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He’s just 21-years-old, and, supposedly, the Gunners got a boost when Chelsea and Bayern Munich both reportedly dropped out of the race for Under.

But now, the reports (dubious reports as always) state that the £35m offer that the Gunners made was judged as too low, and that Roma instead want £45m. Which, naturally, Arsenal cannot afford.

Now, for the record, there is no hint of these reports being truthful other than a stray article that is making the claim, but the sad thing is that I know I am not the only one who finds it completely believable.

Here is a talented young player who can check the boxes off of our to-do list and he is supposedly available for a fee so reasonable that it wouldn’t even break any records at the Emirates, and yet it is being ruled out for a measly £10m.

Again, maybe there is no truthfulness in these rumors, but a similar thing happened in the two year build-up to signing Alexandre Lacazette. And it has happened many times before. So would it be so unbelievable to think the same thing is happening again?