Arsenal could miss out on £21m transfer windfall

All the focus on the upcoming transfer window is aimed around who Arsenal will be bringing in to bolster the squad, although there are plenty of sales expected to go through once again.

Keeping tabs on striker options has seen the club linked with potential moves for Victor Osimhen, Tammy Abraham and Gabriel Jesus, among others, while there are a number of players out on loan due to depart permanently at the end of the campaign.

Hector Bellerin is one of the names on the outgoing list, with Real Betis in talks over a permanent move. Arsenal are thought to be holding out for around £8.4m, which for a player in his final year wouldn’t be too shabby.

One of the other forgotten names at the club is Konstantinos Mavropanos, who is spending a second consecutive year over at Stuttgart.

Arsenal could miss out on £21m transfer windfall with West Ham eyeing summer transfer of Konstantinos Mavropanos

Signed back when Sven Mislintat was involved in the scouting department, the central defender has been attracting admiring glances throughout his time with the Bundesliga side. Failing to break into the Arsenal first team meant he was allowed to leave last summer, with the German side holding an obligation to buy for £3m if they avoided relegation, and an option to purchase for the same fee if they avoided the drop.

As per Kicker (via GGFN) that deal could prove to be a foolish one.

West Ham have been so impressed with Mavropanos’ performances that they are ready to pay a fee of just under €25m (£20.9m) to secure his services in the summer. Stuttgart would activate the permanent option for £3m, and then move him on for a healthy profit.

Arsenal do have a sell on clause but it only amounts to 10%, which in comparison to what they may have been able to accrue is pittance. That isn’t to say that Arsenal needed to keep the Greek international and bed him in, only that agreeing to an option/obligation on his loan move was borderline disastrous. If teams like West Ham are willing to part with £20m – their interest has been around all season – that is money that could easily have made its way straight into Arsenal’s pocket.

Granted, it might not have been as high as he only has one year on his Arsenal deal in the summer compared to the three years he’ll be on if he signs permanently with Stuttgart, but it appears a case of undervaluing their asset and making an error off the back of that.

It’s even sillier when considering that Bellerin left the same summer on a straight loan, and that Maitland-Niles and Mari left six months later on deals without buy options. In doing so it means any ‘success’ they may have doesn’t limit Arsenal to a particular selling fee.

One hopes this is something they learn from.