Arsenal insider Charles Watts has given fans an update on the club’s apparent pursuit of Emiliano Buendía.
The Argentinian has today edged closer to completing a move to fellow Premier League side Aston Villa, with the club themselves confirming that a fee, reported by the BBC at £33m, has been agreed with Norwich City for his services and that he will complete his medical after Argentina’s upcoming game with Colombia in World Cup qualifying.
Arsenal were heavily linked with the 24-year-old, who put in some incredible numbers in the Championship this season, with a report from The Independent claiming that the Gunners were set to offer up a player-plus-cash deal in order to make the move happen.
But according to Watts, speaking on his show, the Gunners never even got that close when it came to trying to make a move happen. Indeed, according to him and his sources, the club never even submitted a bid to the Canaries over a move:
“I have to admit, I’ve still never had it confirmed ever that Arsenal actually made a bid for Buendía. Obviously, there’s lots of reports that they did make a bid so I’m sure they did, but it’s a weird one.
“The whole thing has been a little bit shrouded in mystery in terms of Arsenal’s interest in Buendía. Very mixed signals from different people that I’ve spoken to who have been in and around this deal. And everyone I spoke to, I’ve never actually had it confirmed that Arsenal did make an official offer.
“Yes, there was certainly talking in terms of Buendía’s people and Norwich about getting this deal done, but I’ve still never actually had it 100% confirmed that Arsenal did make an official offer to Norwich for Buendía.”
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TIF Thoughts on Charles Watts comments on Arsenal and Emi Buendía…
If Watts is right on this and Arsenal never went to the trouble of making a bid for Buendía, then it doesn’t look good that a club of Arsenal’s supposed size and ambition to be beaten to a player by a mid-table Aston Villa side.
If they can pull off these sorts of deals, and at that price, then are Arsenal really showing the ambition to try and take that step forward as a club? And once they knew that Villa were in for Buendía, if they wanted him why didn’t they at least try to outbid them at the last minute?
On the face of it, it just doesn’t look like Arsenal are actually trying very hard to try and do something to match the ambitions that they have set for themselves.
In other news: ‘Bit of an issue’ – Watts hints Arsenal duo ‘probably going to miss the start of the season’