JUST IN: Agent is in LONDON today to finalise deal with Arsenal over £80M striker who is better than Man United Hujlund and Liverpool Nunez – Initial bid set to be £60m – Here we go soon
Arsenal would have ‘no problem’ in paying high commission fees to sign Bologna striker Joshua Zirkzee this summer, according to Corriere dello Sport.
The north London giants are on the hunt for a new centre-forward and they have been constantly linked with Zirkzee by the Italian media in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, it was reported that Arsenal are front-runners to sign the 22-year-old and his agent Kia Joorabchian is keen on bringing him to the club.
Corriere dello Sport (page 17) today claim that the overall package for the transfer could be £47 million.
The striker has a release clause worth £34m in his contract while his representative is set to demand between £9m and £13m as commission for the deal.
AC Milan have been pressing to sign the striker, but the Rossoneri are not in a position to pay the hefty fees to Joorabchian to secure an agreement.
It is added that Arsenal would have ‘no problem’ in paying Joorabchian and are therefore in the driver’s seat to sign the former Bayern Munich ace.
Zirkzee would not be an upgrade on Havertz
The 22-year-old had a decent second campaign with Bologna, registering 12 goals and seven assists from 37 appearances across all competitions.
His statistics were not exemplary. In our view, he would not be an upgrade on Kai Havertz, who had a good end to the season with the Gunners.
The German started the season in a central midfield role, but played as a number nine in the back end.
Havertz registered eight goals and seven assists from his 18 appearances as a centre forward.
Hence, we are not convinced that Zirkzee would be a marquee signing and the Gunners should look at alternative options in the transfer market.
If they are eyeing an emerging star, RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko would be a good solution.
The Slovenian netted 18 goals in his debut season at the Bundesliga outfit. He managed to do so while playing just over 2,000 minutes for them.
Sesko averaged a goal in every 114 minutes for Leipzig. In comparison, Zirkzee averaged 245 minutes per goal during his recent season at Bologna.
The former would be a much better signing. He will cost a higher fee of around £55m but should provide value for money with his immense potential.
