Sassuolo CEO Giovanni Carnevali has dropped a strong hint that Arsenal could be in a good position to win the race for the transfer of Manuel Locatelli.
The exciting young midfielder has been one of the stand-out performers for Euro 2020 finalists Italy at this summer’s European Championships, and it wouldn’t be a all surprising if he had plenty of suitors in the transfer market ahead of next season.
MORE: Arsenal at “final stages” of completing midfielder signing
Carnevali has previously gone public on Arsenal’s pursuit of Locatelli, as quoted by the Daily Mirror, and there’s been another update from the club chief, even if he hasn’t named the Gunners this time.
See below as Fabrizio Romano tweets Carnevali’s latest quotes, which state that Sassuolo are in talks over selling Locatelli to an unnamed foreign club, suggesting they could be in a strong position as talks are “really advanced” and their Serie A rivals Juventus might struggle to afford him…
Sassuolo CEO Carnevali to Sky: “We’re in talks for Locatelli with one club from abroad… and it’s really advanced. We’re gonna meet with Juventus in the next days, but there are no negotiations yet with Juve as Italian clubs are in difficult financial situation”. ?? #AFC #Juve
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 8, 2021
Tellingly, Romano also includes the #AFC hashtag, with the in-the-know journalist clearly thinking this could be of significance to Arsenal.
Arsenal fans will hope this can develop into something genuine, rather than being Sassuolo using their interest and exaggerating it to try and convince Juventus to up their offer.
Bad idea! Never go all in on players coming off of Euros or World Cup, we all know they ALL play all out for their nations, less so for the club. Remember Lucas Torreira?
Agreed. James Rodriguez and Davor Suker come to mind. However, the reports were coming out about Arsenal showing interest in Locatelli before the Euros even started. He has been outstanding for Sassuolo in Serie A. Moving from Serie A to the Premier League is a difficult transition for many players.
Arsenal should have to sign more players so that they can compete for the troops
Of course such a statement would come from the club trying to get the price bid higher. Other recent rumours are of him having his heart set on Juve. He grew up only a couple of hours from Turin. If Juve can afford anything close to what Arsenal offers, I expect he will go there.
We should be trying to get rodrigo de paul very complete midfielder
Bissouma all day