Arsenal are being linked with a move for talented AS Roma forward Umar Sadiq, but who is he and could it happen?

The 19-year-old Nigerian is on loan from Spezia, but the team from the Italian capital have an option to make a move permanent in the summer for around €2m. Almost certain to take the option, Roma could be set to make a big profit on Sadiq if an offer comes in.

With finances tight and a new stadium on the horizon, they could do with the money. Arsenal have reportedly already made an approach and an offer north of €15m (£12m) could be enough to get a deal done according to out friends over at Romapress.us, who we spoke to for the lowdown on the striker.

So Arsenal have been linked with young striker Umar Sadiq, what’s he like?

“He’s a very tall/lanky guy. Like most youngsters he’s still “growing” into his frame and learning how to utilize his characteristics.

“He’s very physical, though. He’s roughly 6’4″ and is very good in the air. He absolutely needs to work on his footwork and his ability to hold onto the ball, but he has so much natural ability.”

This season Sadiq has been far from a regular in the Roma setup but that’s to be expected at his age, right?

“He’s gone back and forth between Roma’s youth team and first team this season. He’s only made a handful of appearances but scored a beautiful goal against Genoa in December.

“He’s on loan from Spezia and Roma have an option to buy for only a couple million Euro – which they’ll 100% do.”

So why would Roma sell him?

“They need to sell because of FFP issues. Roma need the money until their new stadiums opens in two years.”

Well then, that sounds promising. Thanks a lot to John for speaking to us, make sure you check out @ASRomaPress and see some of the excellent work done over there.

At just 19, Sadiq has a lot of room for growth and looks like quite the prospect. Arsenal do have strikers already, but no standout stars at that sort of age and there could be a place in the squad for a player like that if Arsène Wenger is prepared to spend the £12-15m it would take to snap up the Nigerian.