Mikel Arteta defied convention by stating Arsenal will be in ‘discussion’ over Kylian Mbappe.
Ask Mikel Arteta about any transfer rumour and the Arsenal boss will almost always bat away the question. During his four-and-a-half years at Arsenal, the Spaniard has made a point of never talking about players linked with the north Londoners while they are employed by another club.
“I’m really sorry to disappoint you but you know I’m not going to be discussing any transfer rumours. I’ve never done it and obviously we cannot do it,” was the matter-of-fact response when asked about Dusan Vlahovic in 2022. It was the same sentiment for Declan Rice last summer, and Leandro Trossard the previous January.
For Arteta and other Premier League managers, it is a matter of principle and respect. You do not disturb another club by fuelling transfer gossip.
But it is a tactic also designed to stop genuine deals becoming public knowledge. When there is an agreement to thrash out, managers and clubs do all they can to prevent the details of discussions being aired.
“When there is a player of that calibre, we always have to be in that conversation,” the Spaniard said on Friday of reports linking Arsenal to Mbappe. “But it looks in a different way, that’s what I would say.”
For Arteta to talk so openly about such a high-profile potential transfer shows that Arsenal are not in the conversation at all. Nor are Liverpool, with both clubs required to smash their wage structure to sign Mbappe.
Mbappe is widely reported to earn around £1.2m per week at Qatari state-funded Paris Saint-Germain, at least three times more than any of the highest earners at Arsenal and Liverpool.
Even with a drastic wage cut, Mbappe’s arrival in the Premier League in the near future seems entirely unrealistic. In an era where Financial Fair Play and Profit and Sustainability regulations are being taken extremely seriously within boardrooms, Arsenal and Liverpool will look elsewhere for their forward targets.
It has long been the 25-year-old’s dream to join Real Madrid. The Spanish capital seems the obvious destination for the France captain when his contract expires in the summer, especially after he turned down a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia last year.
Arteta’s insistence that Arsenal will be in the conversation for Mbappe’s signature come the transfer window was mere posturing.
