Arsenal rejected a final offer from PSG to sign Hector Bellerin on loan this week, pushing the French champions to sign Alessandro Florenzi instead.
Fabrizio Romano reports that Arsenal turned down a final PSG bid to sign Hector Bellerin on loan, choosing to bring in Alessandro Florenzi instead. They’re loaning the AS Roma right-back for the season with an option to buy next summer.
As a result, they’re out of the race for the Arsenal defender. GFFN claim PSG knew they would never get a loan for Bellerin. It was just a negotiating stance as they pursued other targets, namely Florenzi.
This seemingly answers one question, with Bellerin now likely to stay with Arsenal. It raises a number of other issues though. The Gunners wanted €39m from PSG for the right-back, which could have gone towards midfield acquisitions.
If Bellerin stays, who are Arsenal planning to sell for their summer signings? Could Ainsley Maitland-Niles end up back on the market? Or are they hoping PSG will pay up for Matteo Guendouzi instead?
There are certainly plenty of other players on the transfer list this summer. Arsenal would welcome offers for Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Shkodran Mustafi, Sead Kolasinac and Mohamed Elneny, but they aren’t likely to generate much income.
Lucas Torreira and Emi Martinez are probably the two most likely to leave for a decent fee. But after that, you’re looking at Guendouzi and Alexandre Lacazette as the only reasonable options to generate serious money.
So Bellerin staying is good news, but it leaves Arsenal with a lot more work to do this month.