Arsenal have reportedly joined Manchester United and Newcastle in the race to sign Bayer Leverkusen winger Moussa Diaby in the summer transfer window.
Mikel Arteta's side sit on the cusp of a return to the Champions League next season, something that is sure to be a huge boost to their chances of winning transfer battles this summer. Over £140 million was splashed at the start of the current campaign and the Gunners will be eager to keep progressing in the next season.
Aaron Ramsdale, Martin Odegaard, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu were among those brought to the Emirates by Arteta and all four have played huge roles in their rise into fourth. While their remains plenty of potential among the current squad, it appears Arsenal are preparing for another big summer.
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The latest name to be linked with a move to the Emirates is Diaby, with the 22-year-old scoring 16 goals and providing nine assists in all competitions already this season. He will still have three years remaining on his contract come the summer but interest in the winger is mounting.
Diaby's form was recently rewarded with a call-up to Didier Deschamp's French squad for their upcoming clashes and it seems he will have plenty of expectant eyes on him. According to Patrick Berger of Sport1, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle are all pondering a move for the player, with a £50 million asking price also being touted.
Whoever does win the race for him is set to inherit one of Europe's most exciting talents, if one of his former coaches is to be believed. In an interview with The Athletic, Morade Djeddi, president of Diaby's first club Esperance Paris compared the natural talent of Diaby to Lionel Messi.
"For me, hard work is important, but if you don’t have the talent, you can’t make it, especially in offensive positions," he said. "Since he was young, Moussa had this talent… very quickly, you realise that he has explosiveness, an ability to take on his opponent and dribbling skills.
“I’m not comparing him to Messi: I’m just saying that Lionel Messi didn’t learn his dribbling anywhere. It’s the same for Moussa. He was born with it. If dribbling was just work, there would be hundreds and hundreds of Lionel Messis. It’s just that Moussa has a supernatural, divine gift. A gift that some have and others don’t.”
