Arsenal have goalkeeper transfer offer turned down

Glancing over the starting lineup that Arsenal put out at Anfield, it was near enough the best of what Mikel Arteta had on offer. Averting one’s gaze to the bench? Less so.

The squad building ongoing at Arsenal is well underway. Huge strides were taken in the summer with further signings and departures, but one need only see the Mohamed Elneny’s and Sead Kolasinac’s of this team to know it’s not complete.

Many of those who will leave either in January or the summer aren’t deadwood. Ainsley Maitland-Niles may be sold at the end of the season, not because he’s terrible, it’s just that his future lies elsewhere.

And the same can be said of Bernd Leno. Usurped in the starting lineup by Aaron Ramsdale, there is no conceivable way that he is going to complete a miraculous comeback and reinstate himself into the first team. Not because he’s a poor goalkeeper, far from it. Just because he isn’t Ramsdale.

https://twitter.com/AndreyOnana/status/1460744715331059718

Arsenal have Andre Onana transfer offer turned down as Ajax goalkeeper agrees to Inter move with Arteta seeking Leno replacement

When the German does leave, which may well be in the winter as he aims to make the Germany squad for the World Cup, another goalkeeper will need to be brought in with Alex Runarsson not in Mikel Arteta’s plans, Arthur Okonkwo struggling and Karl Hein still only young.

That stopper won’t be Andre Onana. As soon as £30m made its way up M1 to Sheffield United there was no way Arsenal were going to be landing the goalkeeper that captured supporters’ hearts for most of the summer.

The Ajax man has a deal running out next summer and is now back and available to play after his doping ban was completed, with a host of European sides eyeing his signature over the coming winter.

Free to sign a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club in January, the most likely outcome for the Cameroonian is to head down that route which will save his new employers any transfer fee, as well as helping Onana pocket what can presumably be healthier wages.

As per Gazzetta dello Sport, Arsenal joined this group hoping to lure Onana towards them, making a last-minute attempt to prevent what felt like an inevitable Inter move. Understandably, since Onana is a No. 1 goalkeeper, he ‘just said no’ to the Gunners. His move to Inter will be formally announced in February.

If you don’t buy a ticket you don’t win the raffle, right? It would have been glorious to have two keepers of Onana and Ramsdale’s quality in the Arsenal ranks, but there was no way either would suffice at this stage with being the other’s understudy.

A competent goalkeeper who won’t cost an arm and a leg (although who is good with both) will be on the agenda either in January or the summer as Leno looks destined to leave, and as great as it might have been to get Onana in as well, Ramsdale is the No. 1 and nobody is knocking him off that perch.