Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Football London
Football London
Sport
Kaya Kaynak

Alexander Isak hope, Aubameyang future - Arsenal transfer deadline day state of play

Heading into the last day of the January transfer window it looks as though there is plenty to still be resolved at the Emirates.

Arsenal have already seen plenty of players leave the club with Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Flo Balogun and Pablo Mari all being allowed to go out on loan, while Calum Chambers has secured a permanent move to Aston Villa, and Sead Kolasinac had his contract terminated to facilitate a move to Marseille.

Academy youngsters Karl Hein, Tyreece John-Jules and Ryan Alebiosu have all been allowed to leave until the end of the season as well.

On the incomings front however, things have been painfully quiet.

That is, of course, except for in the goalkeeping position where the Gunners have moved to sign Matt Turner from New England Revolution.

The American will not be coming until the summer though when it is expected that he will replace Bernd Leno who is likely to go elsewhere in search of game time ahead of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Leno has fallen down to number two in the pecking order this season after the arrival of Aaron Ramsdale, and it was thought that he could leave this month given that there are no more cup games until the end of the season, but he will now be staying until the end of this campaign whereby he will have Mikel Arteta's blessing to go.

There was some suggestion that Arsenal could move for a right back as well this window, and perhaps repeat the dramatic move that saw Takehiro Tomiyasu arrive from Bologna on deadline day in the summer.

But with Chambers now at Aston Villa, and Maitland-Niles unlikely to return following his loan spell at Roma, it seems that the Gunners will stick with having Cedric as back up to the Japanese international.

The Portuguese full back himself was subject of interest from Atletico Madrid, but the La Liga holders opted to go for Valencia's Daniel Wass. However, sources close to the former Southampton man revealed to football.london that he wasn't closing any doors on a potential exit, meaning that situation could be revisited in the summer.

There were some suggestions that the exits of Mari and Chambers could see William Saliba recalled from his loan with Marseille, but this will not be happening.

Instead football.london understands that the player's intention is to return to north London in the summer with the aim of finally making his Gunners debut.

Hopes of signing Arthur Melo from Juventus appear to have all but ended also, with the Brazilian international set to stay in Turin.

football.london reported that Arsenal wanted to take the former Barcelona man on a straight loan until the end of the season, but reports have suggested the Old Lady were not interested in such a proposal, preferring instead that the deal be an 18 month loan with an obligation to buy at the end.

Meanwhile Bruno Guimaraes has moved to Newcastle, and any move for Leicester's Youri Tielemans looks likely to now come in the summer.

Young midfielder Tim Akinola could be sent on loan having fallen below Salah-Eddine Oulad M-Hand, James Olayinka and Jack Henry-Francis in the pecking order in Kevin Betsy's under-23 side.

That, combined with the return of Miguel Azeez - who's likely to stay in north London until the end of the season - from his loan at Portsmouth, and the decreased number of opportunities set to be afforded to Charlie Patino upon the return of Mohamed Elneny from AFCON and the availability of Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey following their suspensions this month, mean Akinola is unlikely to get as many minutes with the young Gunners. Therefore it seems that he will be continuing his development elsewhere for the remainder of the campaign.

Jack Wilshere is also close to securing himself a new club amid interest from a host of Championship clubs as well as Monza in Italy and AEK Athens in Greece, football.london understands.

However, that deal does not need to be completed on deadline day as the England international is a free agent.

Winger Kido Taylor-Hart meanwhile will be sticking around though, as it appears an abdominal strain has put paid to his chances of securing a loan move. The versatile winger will instead focus on rehabilitation and look to get back in to Kevin Betsy's side.

Up front though is where we could see some more movement on deadline day.

Nikolaj Moller is set to join Dutch outfit Den Bosch until the end of the season.

It was thought the 19-year-old forward might compete with Mika Biereth and Khayon Edwards for a starting spot until the end of the season following the exit of Flo Balogun on loan and his return from a spell with German third tier side Viktoria Koln, but instead it appears he'll be spending the rest of the campaign with the Eerstdivisie side.

Eddie Nketiah is reportedly attracting interest from Newcastle who are keen to sign him permanently before the window shuts at 11pm.

Arsenal are open to the idea of selling the England under-21 international who has just six months remaining on his contract and has rejected public attempts to convince him to stay.

However, if they were to do so they would have only Alexandre Lacazette and Gabriel Martinelli as centre forward options who have played recently.

The Frenchman though is set to leave in the summer when his contract and expires and has just three Premier League goals this season, while Martinelli has looked at his best on the wing over the past few weeks.

With this in mind football.london understands that Arsenal are trying to secure a deal for Alexander Isak before the window shuts at 11pm.

However, Edu is wary of the fact that his side have minimal negotiating leverage in the deal, and would like to avoid having to pay the player's reported £70 million release clause.

The Brazilian is wanting to learn from mistakes made by the Gunners hierarchy in the past and avoid over-committing in terms of fee and salary on a player, meaning that if Arsenal do not feel the deal is right, then they will be willing to walk away, meaning the move is highly complicated going into the final hours of the window, and at time of writing it is far from close.

Finally the future of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang still needs to be resolved.

The 32-year-old has not featured since being stripped of the club captaincy last month, and Mikel Arteta is happy for him to go having not invited him on the club's midseason trip to Dubai.

Saudi sides Al-Nassr and Al-Hillal both showed interest, but the Saudi Arabian Professional League deadline has now passed, meaning that deal will not be going ahead.

The Gabon international's preference was to stay in Europe regardless though, and it seems that Barcelona is the most likely destination for him at this point.

Reports have suggested the Catalan club are moving close to securing a loan move, but a decision still needs to be made over how exactly the player's wages will be paid before anything can be finalised.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.