Arsenal may have crucially missed out on one of their summer transfer targets.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta’s seeming priority remains to be in attack, with Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko both rumoured to be of interest to those at the Emirates Stadium this summer.
But it isn’t their shortlist for a new forward that has taken a damaging blow, more a defensive addition that could have helped Arteta with vital squad rotation, given the injury problems he and his team faced last term.
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Why Arsenal may have ‘missed out’ on a new star this summer
It is no secret the vision Arteta so desperately wants to see through in north London, with Arsenal coming up short time and time again in the last few years. The Gunners went ever so close in the Champions League by beating Real Madrid, but couldn’t topple eventual winners PSG in the semi-finals.
It was the same story in the Premier League too, with runaway winners Liverpool beating Arteta and his men to the title, after injuries curtailed their season around the New Year period.
With summer talks ongoing, a player Arsenal have been rumoured to be interested in is Ajax man Jorrel Hato. The 19-year-old has risen through the ranks at the Johan Cruyff Arena and is currently representing the Netherlands at the Under-21 European Championships in Slovakia.
The Gunners have reportedly been sniffing around the teenager, as relayed by Football Transfers, but further claims from the Netherlands state he has now made an extravagant purchase that puts any move to Arsenal under fire.
SoccerNews in Holland says Hato recently bought a new home in Amsterdam, paying ‘around €1.65million (£1.4million) for the apartment on the Zuidas in the capital’. It is unknown whether his new home relates to a potential stay in his home country, which may come as bad news to Arsenal.
“The smartest thing is to look at it [in] pre-season, that’s what I do,” he told Ajax’s website earlier this year, when asked if he feels at home in Amsterdam. “Of course you want to achieve things in the end: the Champions League, a World Cup and a European Championship, I still have plenty of time. I don’t think I absolutely have to win the Champions League in two years.”
In FourFourTwo’s view, Arsenal may have to sit tight and wait for the right time to pounce when it comes to acquiring the talented Netherlands international.
Valued by Transfermarkt at €35m (£29.8m), his stock could rise once again if he continues to perform well with the Netherlands in Slovakia this summer. Next up for them is a crucial clash with holders England.
