Wenger closes in on Mustafi in double deal
BUT BOSS SAYS PEREZ AND MUSTAFI ARE NOT PANIC BUYS
ARSENE WENGER says Arsenal are close to a £52million double swoop for Lucas Perez and Shkodran Mustafi but insists they are not panic buy sin response to growing fan unrest.
The Arsenal manager has been under pressure to act in the transfer market after Arsenal took just one point from their opening two Premier League matches with a squad depleted by injury and fatigue following Euro 2016.
Perez is on the brink of completing a £17m move after the club hijacked Everton’s move for the Deportivo La Coruna striker by agreeing to trigger his release clause.
Mustafi’s transfer is not quite as far advanced but Arsenal are expected to finalist a £35m deal for the Valencia defender in the coming days.
Arsenal rejected the chance to sign Perez earlier in the summer, while the deal for Mustafi has dragged on for weeks after Wenger refused to sanction a bid in excess of £25m. However, the Frenchman claimed the sudden change of tact was not a move to appease supporters who are angry at a summer in which they have — until now — signed Granit Xhaka and Rob Holding along with youngsters Takuma Asano and Kelechi Nwakali.
“I’m happy when our supporters are happy,” he told Standard Sport. “But my job is to make the right decisions, if that is exactly similar to the contract of the players and that maintains the supporters being happy — that is even better. I focus first on making the right decisions for the club.
“We are working on the deals. We are not close enough to announce today that they will sign for us. Will we sign anybody before the end of the transfer window? I’m 99 per cent confident.”
With the double signing, Arsenal would take their summer spending to nearly £90m and asked if such an
outlay would finally dismiss the idea the club are reluctant to spend big, he replied: “It is a shame you are not my friend. You will see when you go out with me, I spend a lot of money.
“Today, maybe I am a bit too optimistic but I hope we have done what we wanted before [deadline day].
“It was a strange transfer market. I expected it to be easier than ever but it was more difficult than ever. Not a lot has happened. It looks like when you meet other clubs and you have an English passport, you hit these [big] prices which are very difficult to understand compared to the quality of the players.
“It looks like it will be frenetic in the last three days. Everybody has sat on their pounds until now. We know they will all splash out now. I expect the next three days to be very, very busy, so be on alert.”
Wenger confirmed the club are unlikely to make any further additions and Musta fi’ si mm in en tar rival will have a knock-on effect for Calum Chambers, who started the opening day defeat by Liverpool but was dropped for last weekend’s draw at Leicester and now faces a spell away from the club.
“Does it affect his future? No,” said Wenger. “The fact that he could go out somewhere and play? Yes. I don’t think [any other players will leave]. With Joel Campbell going out [on loan to Sporting Lisbon], Calum maybe will go on loan somewhere. It will be alright.”
Arsenal face Watford tomorrow and Wenger suggested Mesut Ozil is more likely to start than Olivier Giroud as the pair continue to recover from their exertions at Euro 2016.
The Gunners also now know the identity of their Champions League opponents after yesterday’s draw, with Paris St Germain, Basel and Ludogorets also lining up in Group A. “Because we are in pot two, we got what we basically expected,” he said. “Maybe Paris StGermain is the favourite but we want to qualify, of course, and if possible finish first in the group.
“We don’t know a lot about Ludogorets and Basel, if you look at their record against English teams, you become cautious.”