Belgian reports that claim British reports state Arsenal have made a bid of €15m for Bjorn Engels are wide of the mark and Club Brugge claim they have received no offer.
Jeez, that’s an awful sentence.
With Arsene Wenger confirming the club would be buying, or trying to buy, another central defender in light of Per Mertesacker being Arsenal’d until the new year at least, there’s hardly a player in that position we haven’t been linked with over the past week.
Even Jonny Evans made another appearance. The words ‘Arsenal’ and ‘Jonny Evans’ should never be paired together unless joined with the words ‘laughed in the face of.’
Anyway, I did a quick Google search for ‘Arsenal Engels’ and was surprised to see little of note pop up. Keeping an eye on the rumours here at Cannon Towers as we do, it wasn’t one that I’d come across so expected to see a host of articles from my post-surgery time off.
Not so it seems.
There were some tweets, like these (the first one was deleted):
Arsenal keen on Bjorn Engels. Brugge want €20m and the club have offered €16m. Reckon an agreement will be made.
— renato (@rehnato) July 30, 2016
Just had it confirmed from my source Arsenal want Bjorn Engels. My Brazilian colleague @rehnato first to break it from the amazon rainforest
— RespectedGunnerGG (@respectedgunner) July 30, 2016
Bjorn Engels was a good prospect 2 years ago but he's way too injury prone. Basically a Belgian Badstuber
— Matt (@_MattAFC) July 30, 2016
Bjorn Engels. Now that's the name of a proper Arsenal signing.
— CD14 (@c_d_14) July 30, 2016
@LeWookieGooner this is where the Bjorn Engels stuff is coming from. Arsenal mania forums pic.twitter.com/YVE46O7aTM
— #BIG17 (@KosmosIsBlu) July 30, 2016
https://twitter.com/GoonerManN5/status/759422884246917120
And they’d been collated into a 101GreatGoals post, but that was about it. All the other reports were Belgian so it could very well have all stemmed from that one deleted tweet.
Engels is looking for a route out of the Belgian club after ten years there but sees himself taking an ‘intermediate’ step to a club like Everton first. He recently told the press, “Until 31 August remains an option. I always said I would not leave here without cost. The dream to be champion with Club Brugge has now been achieved
“Everyone knows that I also dream to play in the Premier League.
“But that depends on the interest and demand. I prefer an intermediate step to a club that is not among the top eight, Everton by my estimate. A middle position would be ideal.” Everton have, reportedly, been scouting him.
As mentioned in one of the tweets above, the 21-year-old has had a few injuries. A knee injury sidelined him for 264 days in October 2014, another knee problem put him out for 154 days just seven days after returning.
Since returning from that problem in April he’s suffered a few muscle issues but they are certainly to be expected after such a long time out of the game.
So are Arsenal interested?
It’s impossible to tell.
Yes, they want a central defender and yes, Engels wants a move, but even the player himself says he isn’t ready for a top eight Premier League side.
The light coverage, especially in England, so far leads me to believe that the Arsenal link could well just be his agent trying to engineer a move somewhere – like Everton, perhaps.
Or someone who went a little too far on the back of a tweet that was then deleted.