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According to Plaza Deportivo Arsenal are attempting to sign Valencia goalkeeper Neto this summer.
What’s the word?
With Petr Cech set to hang up his gloves at the culmination of this season, Arsenal require a reliable deputy to Bernd Leno and have set their sights on Neto, according to reports in Spain.
The Brazilian shot-stopper was a regular for Valencia this season, starting 34 La Liga matches as well as racking up a combined 13 appearances in European competition.
The Gunners were given a first-hand taste of Neto’s ability as the ‘keeper performed admirably, despite conceding seven goals, in May’s two-legged Europa League semi-final.
Plaza Deportivo have reported that Unai Emery’s sights are set on Neto to replace Cech, although the same report claims that Arsenal have seen their initial contract offer rebuffed by the 29-year old.
Neto has an €80m (£70m) release clause, but Valencia are desperate to raise funds and would sell for a fraction of that price should Arsenal make a formal offer.
Blurred Transfer Policy
Only on Monday, Arsenal Director of Football, Raul Sanllehi, spoke to the Gunners official website about the club’s transfer ambitions.
“We need to outsmart the market, we need to make the right signings, do the right sales. It just means hard work and outsmarting the market,” Sanllehi said.
Considering Arsenal’s minuscule transfer budget, thought to be as low as £40m should the club miss out on Champions League football, Sanllehi’s attitude is 100% correct. It is unrealistic to expect Arsenal to outspend their rivals, so they need to outsmart them.
Check out an Arsenal fan vow to “move to another planet” if Spurs win the UCL in the video below…
The only issue with that is the lack of evidence that Arsenal know how to intelligently approach the transfer market. Prior to Sanllehi’s arrival, the club broke their transfer record to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a terrific striker, but a luxury due to the presence of Alexandre Lacazette, while Mesut Ozil, the prototypical luxury player, was given a new monstrous contract.
The arrival of Sanllehi looked to signal a new and smarter approach to the transfer market, but the interest in Neto shows that past lessons have not been heeded.
Spending a significant chunk of an already slender transfer budget on a back-up goalkeeper constitutes the ultimate luxury signing. An extravagant move for someone who will likely play very little is definitely not a sign of Arsenal’s newfound intelligence, but instead a clear indicator of the club’s destiny to repeat mistakes.
