Every club needs to have a long-term plan, but it’s sometimes interesting to see that smaller actions can eventually have bigger, unintended consequences.
A report from Football.London has confirmed that Arsenal are still showing an interest in Lyon star Houssem Aouar, and they claim that he was one of their major targets last summer, but the projected asking price of €60m was so much more than they wanted to pay.
They do go on to say that it’s thought he could be available for as little as £22m this year because the French giants failed to qualify for Champions League football next year.
Where this gets extra-interesting is when you realise that they missed out on the final day as they lost 3-2 to Nice, and the winner in that game was scored by Arsenal loanee William Saliba.
Obviously it’s a major coincidence but it is funny when you consider how it worked out, and these fans are delighted with the long-term vision that Mikel Arteta showed to get to that point:
https://twitter.com/hfussbaIl/status/1397180024042803203
https://twitter.com/GarethWareth/status/1397232617892851725
SALIBA SCORING THE GOAL THAT PUT LYON IN THE EUROPA LEAGUE MEANING THEY LOSE MILLIONS IN PEOFIT MEANING TO MAKE ENDS MEET THEY HAVE TO SELL AOUAR FOR A LOWER PRICE
— Ozilmoose (@arsenalsmells) May 25, 2021
Lyon's failure to qualify for the Champions League means, as per L'Equipe, Houssem Aouar will be available for between £22m – £25m this summer.
Arsenal fans think that Arteta sent William Saliba on loan to Nice to score on the final day against Lyon to stop playing in the CL.
— Aadil Mohamed (@AadilMohamed14) May 25, 2021
https://twitter.com/afcjxck/status/1397191214307364874
https://twitter.com/DocAFC_/status/1397179129179607042
Agent saliba knocking lyon out of the champions league so we can buy aouar pic.twitter.com/XAfEmszF03
— Freejohnjules (@FreeJohnJules) May 25, 2021