Chelsea and Tottenham have joined Arsenal in the race for young forward Yeremy Pino, who has impressed in La Liga with Villarreal. The Gunners first showed interest in the summer transfer window and Pino has now caught the eye of their London rivals, setting up a possible three-way transfer battle.
The 20-year-old was a key performer in Unai Emery's Villarreal side which reached the Champions League semi-final last season. Pino also contributed to 10 La Liga goals in the 2021/22 season with six goals and four assists.
The Gunners were heavily linked with a move for Pino in the final knockings of the summer window along with Wolves forward Pedro Neto. Transfer guru Dean Jones suggested Yeremy Pino would have been open to a move to the Emirates Stadium this summer.
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Pino remained a Villarreal player and has continued to be a frequent starter for the Spanish club, although he has scored just one goal from 13 La Liga appearances this season. However, that has not prevented Chelsea and Spurs from also registering an interest in the Gunners target.
As part of his exclusive Daily Briefing on CaughtOffside, Fabrizio Romano insisted that Chelsea and Spurs are in the race for Pino's signature and that he is not particularly shocked.
“I’m aware of some recent Tottenham and Chelsea transfer rumours and I can say it’s normal that many clubs in England including London clubs are following Yeremi Pino,” Romano said.
“He’s a top talent and he’s represented by Stellar Group which is super strong in Premier League. At the moment there are no advanced talks yet, we will see in 2023; I’m not sure he’s going to leave in January unless a big proposal arrives.”
The focus regarding an attacking acquisition for Mikel Arteta at the moments seems to be on Shakhtar forward Mykhaylo Mudryk who would now likely cost the Gunners close to £100m. Pino, meanwhile, in the summer would have cost Arsenal a fee in the region of £42million, according to reports in Spain and it's likely his price would not have changed too drastically in the interim.
The impressive performances of Pino have also seen him called up to Spain's World Cup squad where he was an unused substitute in their thumping 7-0 win over Costa Rica on Wednesday.
Edu and Arteta have a big decision to make over Mudryk in January over whether or not they enter negotiations with Shakhtar. Pino has similar qualities but could cost the Gunners half the price of the Ukrainian forward, although competition from fellow Premier League clubs and any potential impressive cameos at the World Cup, could prompt Villarreal to up their asking price.
Arsenal acting on their interest in Mudryk could open the door for Graham Potter to add some much-needed spice to his attack and Pino could certainly provide that spark.
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