Arsenal’s ‘high valuation’ for Hector Bellerin is reportedly scuppering his chances of a move there despite having already agreed personal terms, but are they really asking too much?
Inter Milan want to sign Hector Bellerin on loan, Hector Bellerin has reportedly agreed a five-year deal with the Italians and Arsenal want to sell him rather than let his value diminish further.
A report this weekend in Corriere dello Sport claims that Arsenal’s ‘high valuation’ is making things difficult for Inter Milan and that Arsenal won’t ‘give in’.
What are Arsenal asking for Hector Bellerin?
Arsenal are said to want €20m, which is around £17m. They are also believed to be open to a loan with an option-turned-obligation to buy, given that Bellerin would only have one year left in his contract at the end of any loan spell.
How much is Hector Bellerin actually worth?
With two years left on his Arsenal contract, Bellerin is valued at around £22.5m, according to Transfermarkt.
Bellerin’s peak value held at around £36m for 18 months but has been on a steady decline ever since his knee injury in 2019. It stabilised at £22.5m in March of this year, despite his 26th birthday arriving.
What are Inter Milan likely to pay for Hector Bellerin?
In the last few seasons, we’ve seen Aaron Ramsey join Juventus on a free and Henrikh Mkhitaryan do the same at Roma. We got £3.15m for David Ospina from Napoli when he was worth around £4.5m, but getting anything for Ospina at that point could be considered good business.
Frosinone paid £1.35m for Joel Campbell when he was worth twice that, Juventus paid £12.6m for Wojciech Szczesny when he was worth about £16m, and Roma £7.2m for Gervinho when he was worth £9m.
In short, Arsenal aren’t very good at extracting full market value for their players from Italian clubs (any club?) so it’s highly unlikely we will see them get £17m for Bellerin let alone £22.5m.
Inter Milan have recently purchased the 21-year-old centreback, Zinho Vanheusden from Standard Liege for £14.4m, after selling him there in 2019 for £10.57m. They have also purchased 31-year-old Matteo Darmian, paying Parma £2.25m for the right-back.
In total, Arsenal have sold one player to Inter Milan and, funnily enough, that was another right-back – a 31-year-old Nelson Vivas for £6.3m in 2001. Adjusting for inflation, that would be £10.65m today.
Going the other way, Inter have sold two players to Arsenal – Dennis Bergkamp and Nwankwo Kanu for less than Arsenal are asking for Hector Bellerin today – £15.76m (£29.3m adjusted).