Marc Overmars is determined to keep hold of Nicolas Tagliafico despite his agent confirming the player turned down a new contract amid speculation he’s wanted by Arsenal.
Just a few days ago, Tagliafico’s agent, Ricardo Schlieper, said, “Ajax has made a proposal, but we have refused.
“Let us wait and see what happens in the transfer market. Ajax has not yet spoken about the desired transfer amount, but I suspect the club is asking more than 20 million euros for him.
“Nico is a top professional and has unprecedented discipline, which means that sooner or later he’ll get the chance to take the step he wants.”
Overmars, however, wants to keep the player and, after signing an extension himself, reassured fans they would not sell large numbers of players this summer.
“We want to keep Nico Tagliafico and David Neres here,” Overmars told NOC.
“If you start reading the news on sports sites every time, you will continue to give your question and answer.
“In the end, we provide the answer ourselves, because of course, we are working with Nico to keep him here for another year. Let’s see that in the coming weeks.
“Losing three or four players is quite a lot. But you also have to accept it. We do everything we can to keep players, but you know you have to rebuild. A good example is two years ago after the European success under Peter Bosz.”
The Mail on Sunday recently claimed the club are looking at Tagliafico to replace Nacho Monreal, whilst Fox Sports journalist Martin Liberman suggested in February that they were prepared to offer an ‘irresistible’ contract to the defender.
Despite earlier rumours that he had extended his own deal, it appears Nacho Monreal is set to let his contract run down and leave for free this summer. Combine that with Sead Kolasinac’s injury problems and Unai Emery’s lack of faith in the various academy left-backs this season, and it becomes pretty clear the club need a new one this summer.
Tagliafico has five goals and six assists in 35 appearances this campaign, and he’s been called up by Argentina for every recent international break. He’d make a great addition to the team if Arsenal can get a deal through.
He is out of contract in 2022.