With only two weeks left until the start of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign, pre-season is in full swing for many, as is the need to make the most of the transfer window.
Although it doesn’t shut for the English top flight until October 5, that’s a full three weeks after the beginning of the season in England, and it’s debatable that managers will want to be trying to integrate new signings at that late stage.
Particularly if their respective teams happen to have got off to a flyer.
Mikel Arteta will be looking to make deeper inroads into the upper echelons of the table next season, and to that end, one or two new faces will be a pre-requisite, as well as trying to hang onto the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
According to football.london, the north Londoners are still keen on trying to come to a deal for Lyon’s exciting Houssem Aouar.
However, on Friday afternoon, beIN Sports reported that the player has contracted Covid-19, and will therefore not only miss his international debut as a result, but also the Ligue 1 season opener against Dijon.
Not to mention that he will also have to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days.
That would almost certainly throw a spanner in the works of any deal, unless Arteta is prepared to wait until after the start of the campaign to bring him in.