Joao Cancelo joins Arsenal FC: Man City could be forced to sell to rivals despite title threat
Jesus and Zinchenko have transformed Arsenal since joining from Manchester City last summer for a combined fee of around £75million.
The pair have helped the Gunners grow from top-four contenders to title contenders, with their influence being felt both on and off the field.
The question is whether City would sell to Arsenal again as they are now one of their biggest rivals.
Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko have been huge since joining from Man City
/ Arsenal FC via Getty Images“Pep and Manchester City will never sell a player to Arsenal again,” declared former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher earlier this season, speaking to The Overlap in Focus.
“The reason Oleksandr Zinchenko was sold to Arsenal is because of Pep’s mate – and he didn’t feel Arsenal posed a threat.”
Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola are close friends and that helped in negotiations last summer, but just as crucial was Jesus and Zinchenko’s desire to leave the Etihad.
The couple wanted to play first-team football and City were happy to make that possible, not least given their services to the club in recent years.
Ideally, Jesus and Zinchenko would have moved abroad, but the greatest interest came from the Premier League.
Chelsea and Tottenham were also looking for Jesus, while West Ham were interested in Zinchenko and suggested he use him as a midfielder.
The fact is that the Premier League remains the best market for selling players in the current economic climate and City may therefore have to accept that this is Cancelo’s most likely destination.
Furthermore, there are few clubs in mainland Europe that can afford him. Bayern Munich are already out of contention after deciding not to make his loan move permanent.
City are aware of the Premier League’s dominance in the market and last summer’s other big sale involved the sale of Raheem Sterling to Chelsea.
Last summer, Premier League clubs spent £1.9bn on transfers, almost triple the second-largest Serie A clubs (£646m).
The Premier League’s financial dominance continued in January as its spending accounted for 79 per cent of total spending across Europe’s big five leagues. Chelsea spent around £288m this month, more than all clubs in the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 combined.
Cancelo would be an ideal fit for Arsenal as he can play as a reversed full-back – a role Zinchenko has played to great effect this season.
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Arteta knows the Portugal international well from his time at City and the fact that he can play on either flank is also attractive.
However, Cancelo will not come cheap as Bayern’s option to make his loan move permanent this summer was £61million. That would account for a large part of Arsenal’s transfer budget, with the focus currently being on midfield.
However, the left-back could also become a key area of reinforcement as Newcastle are interested in signing Kieran Tierney.
‘Cancelo’ would signify the signing of Arsenal, who are determined to challenge for the title again after missing out this season.
At 28, the full-back is at the peak of his career and would be a real match for both Ben White and Zinchenko.
Arteta spoke this season about targeting signings who can take Arsenal to the ‘next level’. Cancelo certainly meets these requirements.
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/joao-cancelo-arsenal-fc-transfer-news-arteta-man-city-b1082013.html Joao Cancelo joins Arsenal FC: Man City could be forced to sell to rivals despite title threat
