Arsenal are among the contenders for Fenerbahce’s teenage sensation Arda Guler, with the north London club considering a swoop this summer.
What’s the latest on Arda Guler to Arsenal?
According to Football Insider, Mikel Arteta’s Gunners have ‘leapfrogged’ Premier League rivals Newcastle United in the race to sign Guler, who has emerged as a first-rate prospect this term.
The attacker has captured the excitement of all who have observed his trade, and as such Arsenal are joined in their interest by Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.
The 18-year-old possesses a contractual clause that could see him leave the Yellow Canaries for just €17.5m (£15m), but this has prompted his Süper Lig outfit to offer a new deal to tie him down for a further year, potentially cashing in for a more lucrative fee.
Should Arsenal sign Arda Guler?
The north London giants have earned their distinction for boasting one of European football’s most prominent youth academies around, with Bukayo Saka, Serge Gnabry, Cesc Fabregas and Ashley Cole just some of the salient names to have risen from Hale End.
And while Guler is now 18-years-old, he would have the opportunity to nurture his way to prominence with the Gunners, absorbing the fruits of his senior peers’ labour and gradually blossoming into a world-class talent, having been described as a “magician with a wand of a left foot” by one European scout.
As per Sofascore, the four-cap Turkey star – with one goal – has averaged a match rating of 7.48 in the league this season, scoring four goals and providing three assists from just 11 starts in the Süper Lig, completing 85% of his passes and averaging two key passes per game.
Given his natural prowess with the ball at his feet, his role as a left-footed winger on the right flank and his clear aptitude for clinching both goals and assists, the “fantastic” Guler – as dubbed by Fabrizio Romano – could rise to the fore as the Premier League’s next Riyad Mahrez under Arteta’s stewardship.
The Arsenal boss will know the Algerian’s skill set well from his time as Pep Guardiola’s understudy at Manchester City, and given Saka’s rise to prominence as the Gunners’ starring attacker on the right side, it’s evident Arteta knows how to utilise attacking options in this regard.
Mahrez signed for Leicester from French side Le Havre in 2014, historically winning the Premier League and earning the division’s Player of the Year award, before completing a £60m transfer to the Citizens in 2018, where he has gleaned five Premier League titles, two FA Cups, three League Cups and the Champions League, heralded as “exceptional” by his boss for his diverse attacking nature.
Over the duration of his career, the 32-year-old, who like Guler drifts inside from the right flank, has averaged 2.1 shots and 1.6 key passes per match, as per WhoScored, also completing 82% of his passes and averaging 1.8 dribbles per outing.
To put those numbers into context, the fleet-footed Guler has averaged 1.6 dribbles per match over the maiden period of his career, certainly exhibiting his class and breezy gait on the pitch, while the aforementioned Saka has posted 1.4 dribbles a game.
The Turk is undoubtedly a “serious talent” – as he has been called by reporter Duncan Castles – and by arriving at the Emirates Stadium he could grow into one of English football’s most prodigious phenoms, potentially even replicating Mahrez in the process.
