As football came to a close last weekend, actual news has been light on the ground, but here is a roundup of the top Arsenal news and gossip stories this week.
Arsenal news
- Nicolas Pepe has made it into the UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season for 2020/21, after a strong individual European campaign.
- Arsenal will play a friendly against Napoli in London in July.
- Joe Willock has been named Premier League Player of the Month for May, after an outstanding finish to his loan spell with Newcastle United.
- Arsenal have a one-year option to extend Calum Chambers’ contract, with the 26-year-old viewed as a positive influence at the club.
- Arsenal are out of Europe for the first time in 25 years so of course this is when they finally do away with away goals in UEFA competitions.
- Photos of the new Arsenal Adidas Third Kit for 2021/22 have leaked, ahead of the official release later in the summer.
- Former Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester United man Tony Strudwick is joining Arsenal as the academy’s new head of sports science and medicine.
- Arsenal will appoint Southend United goalkeeping coach Terry Mason as their new head of academy goalkeeping, according to reports.
- Granit Xhaka has been named by the CIES Football Observatory in the Premier League Best XI of the Season.
Arsenal Gossip
- Lucas Torreira accepts that his immediate future lies in Europe, even though he wants to return to South America. Despite only starting five games (three in La Liga) and playing just 722 minutes, Torreira picked up a league winner’s medal and could well return to the Wanda Metroplitano next season, but only on loan again. He would then only have one year remaining on his Arsenal deal.
- The noise around Hector Bellerin moving to Real Betis seems to be picking up pace with the defender talking about his love for his father’s club and Dani Ceballos chipping in with his two cents worth. Ceballos did, however, also play diplomat, adding, “Héctor has a contract with Arsenal and it would be disrespectful to the club where he is happy.”
- Granit Xhaka is wanted by Roma and, despite being priced at a paltry €25m, Jose Mourinho’s side have bid €15m and they want Arsenal’s former captain to help drive down his price. Working with Jose Mourinho would ‘appeal’ to Granit Xhaka according to Blick in Switzerland who interviewed the midfielder ahead of the Euros and then delivered some interesting information.
- Bayer Leverkusen are interested in signing William Saliba.
- Lazio have added their name to the list of clubs interested in signing Konstantinos Mavropanos.
- Arsenal and Norwich have apparently restarted talks over the signing of Emiliano Buendia. The player is said to be open to a move to Arsenal.
- Arsenal were apparently tying to signing Joey Dawson from Scunthorpe United but it seems the player will be off to Celtic.
- Mikel Arteta is apparently interested in bringing Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez to Arsenal this summer with Manchester City willing to sell both players.
- Mat Ryan is hoping a return to Arsenal will be an option for him this summer, having completed his loan spell with the Gunners from parent club Brighton.
- Willian is ‘100%’ to leave Arsenal this summer, even if no other English clubs come in for him, according to Fabrizio Romano.
- Schalke are holding crucial talks over the future of Sead Kolasinac this week, with Arsenal willing to let the defender leave.
- Arsenal are interested in Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Edmond Tapsoba, but any deal is likely to really test the club’s finances.
- Arsenal are interested in a move for Sevilla centre-back Jules Kounde, but they may struggle to complete the signing this summer.
- Olympique de Marseille have already seen a couple of proposals turned down for Matteo Guendouzi, but talks are ongoing and the player appears keen.
Arsenal women’s news
- Viktoria Schnaderbeck has undergone surgery on a knee injury after 201 days on the sidelines with a knee injury.
- Vivianne Miedema’s agent, Leoni Blokhuis, has denied that her client will be heading to Lyon as part of a swap deal that would bring Nikita Parris to the club.
- Arsenal have signed Mana Iwabuchi to replace Jill Roord who will join Wolfsburg at the end of the season.
Arsenal youth news
- Three of Arsenal’s academy players have received senior international call-ups for the upcoming round of fixtures.
- Arsenal goalkeeping prospect Hubert Graczyk is swapping England for Poland, joining up with the Poland u19s for a training camp at the end of this month.
Ex-Arsenal news
Former Arsenal Head of Coach and Player Development, Marcel Lucassen, who resigned from the club as allegations of racist remarks were being investigated, has been appointed Director of Football Development at KNVB.