Arsenal could be about to part with a £50 million player – potentially selling to another London club – in order to generate a cash injection for the final weeks of the window.
The Gunners have spent £200m this summer on the likes of Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber and David Raya, the latter of which is only a loan with an option to buy next summer permanently. With Financial Fair Play to consider, manager Mikel Arteta has earmarked players for sale for a number of weeks and had begun to trim his squad, happy with the improvements that he had made.
But Timber has put a spanner into those plans, after picking up an ACL injury in Arsenal's opening Premier League match against Nottingham Forest. Now, the need to offload deadwood may accelerate as Arteta looks for a replacement for the Dutchman during his lengthy layoff.
According to the Daily Mail, Fulham are considering moving for Arsenal's £50m-rated Folarin Balogun, with Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic set to leave for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia.
The Whites have managed to bring in Raul Jimenez from Wolverhampton Wanderers and secured a win in their game week 1 fixture against Everton without Mitrovic from the start. Should they receive a generous figure for the 28-year-old – who fired an unbelievable 43 goals in 44 games during Fulham's promotion campaign of 2021/22 before netting a further 14 in 24 last term – they could be persuaded to buy Balogun.
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United States international Balogun managed 21 Ligue 1 goals on loan at Will Still's Reims last term and in Arsenal's bid to find him a new permanent club, the north Londoners have struggled to find a suitor who matches their valuation. Italian journalist Alfredo Pedulla confirmed that Inter Milan pulled out of the race for the forward when a €35m bid was rejected.
Fulham might not have to pay £50m, either. With Arsenal looking unlikely to get that figure, the Cottagers might find that £35m-£40m is enough – and with Fulham able to sign goalkeeper Bernd Leno for relatively cheap with add-ons depending on Premier League status, they could well broker a similar deal on a bigger scale.
Arsenal are also believed to be open to sales for Kieran Tierney, Rob Holding and Nicolas Pepe before returning into the market to secure a replacement for Timber.
Transfermarkt values Balogun at €30m.
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