by Lewis Ambrose

According to Daily Express Arsenal have made an official enquiry for Barcelona’s young star Munir El Haddadi.

The goals of El Haddadi saw the Gunners knocked out of the UEFA Youth League two years ago, and last season saw him make his La Liga breakthrough.

Chelsea are also said to be interested but there is so far nothing to suggest they have enquired about the player’s availability this summer.

Approach

Despite signing for the Spanish giants early last summer, Luis Suárez was banned until 25th October and, having sold Alexis Sánchez to Arsenal, someone had to be promoted to take his place.

That someone was El Haddadi, who comes with a huge reputation following his rise through the Barcelona ranks.

Now reports say that Arsenal have made an official approach for the 19 year-old, who is also attracting interest from Chelsea.

The teenager is allegedly seeking more first-team opportunities, which is hardly surprising. He started seven La Liga games, as well as one Champions League game, last season and scored once.

With Suárez returning and Pedro recapturing some of his old form, the youngster was then dropped back down to Barcelona’s second team in the second division.

It would hardly be a surprise if he was now chasing more first-team football and more exposure, but would he really leave a club like Barcelona for that? Especially for Arsenal or Chelsea – who already both have an array of attacking talents. Sure, they aren’t at the level of Lionel Messi, Suárez and Neymar but that is not the point.

It has even been reported that Barcelona are unwilling to sell anyway, having already rejected a bid from Ajax. The Spanish international has a release clause of €35M (£25M) and anyone would be plain mad to spend that much on him just yet.