Arsenal are in talks to sign Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Christopher Nkunku on a loan deal with an option to buy, according to the BBC’s David Ornstein.
Ornstein reports (via BBC) that Arsenal have begun negotiations for Nkunku. The 21-year-old was pushing his way into the PSG team under Unai Emery, but he’s slowly falling out of it under Thomas Tuchel, playing just 105 minutes of their last nine league games.
Arsenal want to loan Nkunku until the end of the season with an option to buy, but PSG want to extend the youngster’s contract first. The French u21 international only has a deal lasting until 2020, so the Ligue 1 club wouldn’t want Arsenal to reject their purchase option and send the player back with just a year left on his deal.
According to Ornstein, there is ‘full consensus’ among the Arsenal hierarchy that Nkunku is the right player to chase in the January window, though there’s still work to do to get the deal done. The player himself is keen, and not crucial to Tuchel’s plans, but PSG want cover first.
Football.London add that the option to buy would be around £18m, and that Arsenal have been following Nkunku since even before Arsene Wenger left the club.
The midfielder is seen as a potential successor to Aaron Ramsey, though he can also play on the right.
That versatility could make Nkunku particularly appealing to Arsenal right now, after Hector Bellerin’s injury. Though the PSG man hasn’t spent much time at right-back, he has played right wing-back on multiple occasions this season. That would make him an option to fill in whenever Emery played three at the back.
Nkunku has made 16 appearances this season (eight starts) and scored two goals. Though goalscoring isn’t his speciality, the midfielder-turned-winger does score some nice goals from time to time:
We’ll see if Arsenal can get the deal over the line in the final week of the transfer window.