Arsenal’s interest in signing Florian Thauvin has apparently been confirmed but the club are looking at other priorities ahead of him.
Arsenal are looking for a wide player and had been interested in Wilfried Zaha or Ryan Fraser. No Champions League football has put pay to signing either of those so they are looking for a cheaper alternative and Florian Thauvin’s name popped up despite Marseille reportedly wanting €50m for him.
Marseille website, Le Phocéen claim that a source close to Arsenal told them, “They had made contact with two players in the Premier League, Ryan Fraser Bournemouth and Wilfried Zaha Crystal Palace. Without Champions League, and when we know the rates between English clubs, they can already forget these tracks.
“For a few days, we talk about Thauvin [to] Arsenal and, actually, it could stick with the needs of the club but there are other priorities for owners.”
Namely, not spending €50m on one player.
The unnamed source also added, “It’s been three years since Arsenal were in the Champions League, so the recruitment level, the club takes what others do not want, [you] do not be choosy at a certain level.
“They recruited Lacazette because Atletico Madrid was banned from recruitment at that time, otherwise the player would have gone to Spain.”
Checking back through our archives it seems like we almost made it a year without being linked with Thauvin in any meaningful sense. But, here we are with the window hardly open and he’s back.
Going back to 2015, Thauvin admitted that Arsene Wenger had tried to sign him a few seasons before he arrived in Newcastle.
Speaking to the Chronicle, Thauvin said, “Two or three seasons ago, Arsene Wenger perhaps made an approach with Arsenal, but apart from Arsenal, Newcastle are the only other club who have made an approach for me in the past.”
Wenger, and pretty much every person who ever met him, has of course gone from Arsenal so is the new regime reigniting Arsenal’s interest?
Perhaps.
Still only 26, Thauvin netted an impressive 16 goals, with eight assists, in 33 Ligue 1 games for Marseille last season. What could Arsenal do with that sort of return from the flanks?
Quite a lot, frankly.
He’s under contract until 2021 and cost the French side £9.9m from Newcastle so there’s no sensible reason to think he would be priced outside of Arsenal’s limited budget. Of course, sense rarely plays a part in the transfer window. They’d also be getting a player with Premier League experience so he would, theoretically, need less time to ‘bed in’.
But Thauvin lasted only a single season with Newcastle before he returned to Marseille on loan and was considered one of Steve McClaren’s worst signings. He scored one and assisted two in 16 appearances and played only 568 minutes with no reported injuries. Alarming stats, for sure.
Marseille sold Thauvin to Newcastle in 2015 for £16.52m and they paid £10.8m for him in 2013 meaning they’ve had him as a player, either on loan or a permanent deal, for a total of five seasons with a net fee of just £4.18m. Anything over that amount is just gravy to them now and they must like their dinner wet because they apparently want €50m for him.
The player, for his part, could well be itching to move on again, trying desperately to escape Marseille’s orbit yet always finding himself back there.
Speaking in April he said of his team’s form, “I’m talking sh*t, I’m tired, but we’ve been poor this season.
“It’s the same story every season. I’m fed up. For a top-three finish, it’s over. And even if we get into Champions League, what’s the point? We’re rubbish.”
In May he added, “As I said before, I’m at OM, I’m trusted in the project. Maybe the club will want to sell me. Maybe I’m going to want to leave. I do not know, but for now, I do not ask myself the question. My goal in my career is to be the best performer and go as high as possible. So as long as OM can offer it to me, I do not see why I will not stay at OM.”