Arsenal are reportedly in ‘pole position’ to sign Roma’s £52m-rated winger, Cengiz Under, in a story that has exploded over the last day or so, but where has it come from?

Around a week or so ago it was reported that Arsenal had a €30m bid rejected for Cengiz Under.

Now, Arsenal are ‘leading the race’ for a player Roma want around £52m for before they consider letting him go.

£52m is a lot of money, especially for Arsenal who reportedly only have £40m to spend.

Something, clearly, doesn’t add up here.

The story, which is pretty widespread at this point, seems to have stemmed from ForzaRoma.

Sort off.

The same site also reported a Turkish rumour that quoted Hüseyin Eroğlu, coach of Under’s former club, Altinordu FK, as saying, “I would not be surprised by his transfer to Bayern.

“He is a player who can bet higher. Already when he arrived in Italy they said he could not play at those levels, but he proved to be a great player.

“At Bayern, they could replace Robben, they have similar characteristics, they both love racing in the spaces.

“We are very proud of these transfers, our players are moving for record numbers”.

At the end of their article covering these quotes, ForzaRoma add, “In recent days there has been talk of an offer of about 50 million euros. Roma now awaits Monchi who meanwhile tries to fix the contract of Under, who now earns around a million Euros, including bonuses.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew8DL8-3JrY

Looking through the FR site and others, Under is linked most with Bayern, his former president, Mehmet Ozcan, even claiming interest from the Bavarians.  Arsenal are mentioned, but Bayern Munich seem to be more central to the story, despite a throwaway line that claims Arsenal are in ‘pole position’.

It is this line that seems to have been picked up by the British press to generate the headlines we’ve seen over the past 24-48 hours.

It is also worth noting that Under signed for Roma from Basaksehir who are in-line to receive 20% of any fee the Italians receive for his sale and that a lot of the ‘information’ regarding this story seems to be coming from Turkey.

I’m not saying that Under’s former Turkish sides are playing games in the media to increase their own cut, but 20% of £52m is £10.4m and that is a lot of money for a club whose most expensive player is worth £9m – three times as much as their next most valuable player.

Football Italia reported a story on 10 October about Arsenal’s interest in Under, stating that they got it from CalcioNews24. These seem to be the earliest mentions of this specific rumour that continues to morph, however, Football Italia don’t mention any sort of bid from Arsenal, nor do the CalcioNews24.

A check of the Italian site shows that they do mention Arsenal as interested, but any talk of money is mere speculation about the price it would take to get Under from Rome. They also write that Roma are trying to get him to agree a new deal that would have a release fee between €40 and €50m.

So, to recap, Arsenal reportedly bid €30m for Under but this seems to be a translation problem. Arsenal being in ‘pole position’ for the player comes from a throwaway line in an article that has him more heavily linked with Bayern Munich based on information from clubs who have a financial interest in driving his price up.

Under, 21, is a left-footed right-winger who hails from Turkey. He signed for Roma from Basaksehir in the summer of 2017 for a fee of £12.06m.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAhRG2eZza0

He has four assists and two goals in eight matches this season on the back of eight goals and two assists in 32 games last season.

This is far from the first time Arsenal have been linked with Under.

Roma reportedly rejected a £26m bid from the club back in May, after Arsenal allegedly approached for him in March only to be rebuffed.

It’s hard to imagine that Arsenal will now bid double that just five months later.