Arsenal consider Ruben Neves player plus cash transfer

Arsenal are gearing up for significant changes across the team, with no area less primed for an overhaul than the midfield. An exodus is afoot and all signs point towards Mikel Arteta already finding the man he wants to replace Granit Xhaka.

A move to Roma will be completed before Euro 2020 kicks off on June 11th, with all parties involved eager to see a transfer completed in time for Xhaka to place his full focus towards his duties with Switzerland, Jose Mourinho to land his first target and Arsenal to move on to other options.

Given the speed with which Ruben Neves has been linked to north London since, a move gathering traction with all major outlets, including Goal, he very much is the ‘replacement’ at present. Xhaka’s deal will be completed momentarily but there will have to be patience in regards to the 24-year-old who is away with the Portugal national side and unlikely to want to start negotiating his future.

Indications are that he’s keen on the move, one that is said to cost Arsenal in the region of £40m. That is not cheap, at all, and naturally comparisons will be drawn to Xhaka leaving for around half that price. Both players have two years left on their deals and are at very different cycles in their careers, with one edging closer to 29 years old and the other just having turned 24.

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Arsenal consider Ruben Neves player plus cash transfer as Gunners could haggle down Wolves’ £40m asking price

There is also the cross-Premier League tax. Selling to a fellow top-flight outfit will almost always result in an elevated fee and it was not long ago that Neves was courted by England’s big-hitters, including Manchester City during Mikel Arteta’s time there.

Nonetheless, Arsenal will need more than one central midfielder this summer. It’s still not known what system the manager will look to play but Neves is someone who has played exclusively as part of a two-man midfield at Wolves; this has come in a variety of systems, be it 3-4-3, 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-1-2.

If 4-3-3 is adopted next term then Neves is likely to play as the deep-lying option with Thomas Partey to his right, even if his earlier days at Molineux saw him pushed further forward. He isn’t the profile of player Arteta will be wanting to sit at No. 10, for example.

But with more midfielders needed even if Neves arrives that £40m asking price will take a fair chunk out of the budget, hence why ways to haggle that fee down will be welcome.

In the squad there is someone Arsenal may include in the deal.

Continued…

Ainsley Maitland-Niles Could be Included as Arsenal Eye Ruben Never Transfer

It looked for all the world as if Ainsley Maitland-Niles wouldn’t even be spoken about in Arsenal terms this summer as the full-back looked primed for a £15-£20m move to Wolves just under a year ago.

A deal had been agreed between both parties in and around the FA Cup final, before Arteta pulled the plug on what would have been a welcome cash injection by encouraging the Hale Ender to stay in north London and fight for his place.

That turned out to be an opportunity missed as Maitland-Niles barely featured the following term, with the decision to keep him in the end making precious little sense. It would have been with the hope of Sead Kolasinac moving on, a deal that didn’t materialise, but still the 23-year-old started just four Premier League games before his January move to West Brom.

Starting 14 of the 15 games he had with the Baggies in central midfield has seen his stock stay about the same – considering he’s fallen out of England favour – and Simon Collings of the Evening Standard states he could be used to persuade Wolves to part with Neves on a reduced fee.

Having spent six months in the area, a return to the midlands may appeal to Maitland-Niles, although he would likely seek some reassurances over what role he would play under new boss Bruno Lage.

Maitland-Niles would be of great use to Arteta if he sucked it up and decided to play as a right-back for Arsenal Football Club. He just doesn’t want that (fair play to him, but also not) and a sale has to happen.

This isn’t the only deal this summer Arsenal may look to include players in, with Eddie Nketiah someone who won’t fetch a colossal fee but could be used as makeweight for the likes of Yves Bissouma.

Either way, there is no future for Maitland-Niles at Arsenal and if it Neves they’re after, bargaining down that fee with a player of previous interest Wolves makes sense.