With the end of the season fast approaching, Arsenal have been linked with another player who could well be Premiership-bound in the summer.

That player is Hoffenheim midfielder Roberto Firmino, who, after scoring eight goals across all competitions and providing nine assists this season has found himself interesting a number of the Premiership’s elite.

If recent reports are to be believed, Arsenal are one of those clubs.

It’s also mentioned by Firmino’s agency, ROGON Sports Management, that Hoffenheim have an agreement with them to sell Firmino this summer.

This is what Firmino’s agent had to say (translated from German):

The contract extension had been firmly instructed that a change in the winter is not an issue.

“We had agreed that Roberto only can go in the summer when Hoffenheim will agree with a club about a transfer. Regardless of whether the TSG European or playing Champions League.”

So that part is fair enough – the club will sell if the price is right (around £20m).

Valon Behrami (L) of Hamburg and Roberto Firmino (R) of Hoffenheim compete for the ball during the Bundesliga match between 1899 Hoffenheim and Hamburger SV
SINSHEIM, GERMANY – MARCH 14: Valon Behrami (L) of Hamburg and Roberto Firmino (R) of Hoffenheim compete for the ball during the Bundesliga match between 1899 Hoffenheim and Hamburger SV at Wirsol Rhein-Neckar-Arena on March 14, 2015 in Sinsheim, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Bongarts/Getty Images)

 

But what about Arsenal’s interest and where would another attacking midfielder fit into the squad?

Well, jumping to the BILD article, Arsenal are mentioned as one of a number of interested clubs as well as, well, everyone you would expect really.

BILD only mention Arsenal’s interest as it has been mentioned recently in the English media.

Arsenal aren’t the only Premiership club to have recently been linked with Firmino. In fact back in November it was pretty widely reported that Firmino had agreed a January move to Manchester United (which didn’t make any sense due to his contract agreement).

So where did the Arsenal talk come from?

It turns out that the reports of Arsenal’s interest first started gathering pace with this article from the Mirror in February, an article that also explains that Arsenal are looking at Firmino as a potential Cazorla replacement (thus answering the question about where he would fit into the squad).

But from everything I’ve read about Firmino and Arsenal, I havent seen anything yet to suggest that Arsenal’s ‘interest‘ is anything more than just paper talk.

Each article mentioning Arsenal’s interest is either very vague or also lists off a number of other clubs that might well be interested.

Arsenal might well have Firmino on their radar, they will have watched him and they will (hopefully) be planning for life without Cazorla when he does leave (forward thinking is never bad).

Despite Hoffenheim being willing to sell him in the summer, I’ve read or seen nothing that suggests with conviction that it will be to Arsenal.

Arsenal don’t need an attacking midfielder.

If Cazorla (or even Ozil) is sold though then this could well become a very interesting link.