Emerson Royal is Arsenal’s perfect Hector Bellerin replacement

How Much Arsenal Would Pay for Emerson

Emerson’s deal to join Betis was actually in conjunction with Barcelona. Both clubs agreed to pay Atletico Mineiro €6m (£5.1m), with the 22-year-old due to play the first two-and-a-half seasons with the Seville club before moving to Camp Nou in the coming summer, when Barça would pay their share plus another €3m (£2.5m).

The form of Sergiño Dest has put a potential spanner in the works, as the American nails down his place with La Blaugrana leaving the situation in limbo. Newly appointed president Joan Laporta is said to be keen to follow through with the plans to integrate Emerson.

Essentially, the ball sits in Barça’s court in what is an ‘interesting’ contractual situation. Football Espana even state Barcelona can’t sell him until 2022. It’s a bit of a mess.

Back in January it was reported by SPORT that PSG were plotting a £21.5m deal for Emerson, which not only puts a ballpark figure on his services, but asks questions of their interest in Bellerin.

Arsenal were keen prior to his initial move to Betis back in January 2019, before Arteta’s arrival as head coach. The team employed a different brand of football under Unai Emery but it was apparent then that the Sao Paulo-born defender boasted valuable traits, having been compared to, of course, Dani Alves. Edu clearly wasn’t the only one with eyes on Brazil.

Tactically speaking, Arsenal’s interest makes perfect sense.