Obviously it’s not vital for a player to support the team, but the fans do tend to love it when a player has also supported the club when they were a kid.
There are different degrees of that and it means less when you’ve got a Robbie Keane type who seemingly supported about 19 clubs as a kid, but there are some interesting rumours linking Brighton midfielder Yves Bissouma with a move to Arsenal this summer.
A report from The Mirror has confirmed that he supported Arsenal as a kid so that should make the club more appealing to him, while Mikel Arteta sees him as the ideal candidate to partner Thomas Partey in the midfield next season.
It also sounds like his future doesn’t even depend on Brighton staying up as they’ll be tempted to cash in regardless, but the problem comes with Leicester City who are also heavily interested in his signature.
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He’s got just over two years left on his contract so this is probably the best chance for Brighton to get a huge fee for him, while he’s impressed in a team that’s struggling against relegation so he’s clearly ready for a move to a bigger club.
Leicester may have Champions League football to offer next season so that will go in their favour, and it means Mikel Arteta will need to hope that Arsenal are still a big enough draw to tempt him to the Emirates instead.