The agents of Lyon winger Rachid Ghezzal have approached Arsenal, as the Algerian ace hopes to make a move to one of the Premier League heavyweights despite interest from Everton.
According to the Sun, the Gunners have been handed a tailor-made opportunity to hijack Everton’s move for Lyon winger Rachid Ghezzal. The report states that the Toffees made a £12 million bid in the summer, but the Algerian wants to play for a ‘bigger’ club.
Ghezzal’s contract at Lyon runs out this summer, and his representatives have been in touch with Arsenal over a possible Bosman transfer. However the report adds that Everton are still very interested in the 24-year-old and are willing to offer him £100,00 per week in wages.
It is unlikely that Arsenal, who have a strict wage structure in place, will be too keen to offer up those kind of wages. This will most likely be the decisive factor should the Gunners actually register an interest in the player.
On the other hand, Lyon themselves are keen to hold on the player. They are still in negotiations with his representatives, but at the same time have secured a possible replacement in Manchester United winger Memphis Depay.
Ghezzal may be interested in a move to Arsenal, but it’s hard to gauge whether the Gunners are interested in him. They already have the likes of Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alex Iwobi vying for a place on the wings.
However the fact that there would be no transfer fee involved could be a tempting prospect for Wenger and co. Walcott has hit a rich vein of form this season, but remains a mercurial talent. Alexis Sanchez is being used as a striker by Wenger, while the two Alex’s are still raw, inexperienced and error prone.
Rachid Ghezzal is predominantly a right winger. He has scored two goals and made two assists in nine Ligue 1 appearances for Lyon this season, well short of his eight goals and eight assists in 16 appearances in 2015-16.
The Algerian attacker could be looking to emulate his compatriots Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani in the Premier League, and should he prove himself to be on that level, would probably be one of the top transfers of summer 2017 wherever he ends up.
