Arsenal chasing “mind-blowing” £50m phenom

After just over a month of constant rumours, speculation, and deals, transfer deadline day is finally here, but so far, Arsenal’s list of incomings is entirely blank.

Mikel Arteta’s side are still just about in the Premier League title race, flying in the Champions League and could even overturn their 2-0 deficit in the League Cup on Wednesday, but to give themselves the best chance of winning anything this year, they’ll surely need to make an addition to the squad before the window slams shut tonight.

Now, the North Londoners have been trying to strengthen their squad, with concrete links to players such as RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko and Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, but to little success.

Fortunately, with just a day remaining, recent reports have strongly linked the club with one of the most exciting up-and-coming attackers in European football, a youngster who’d be the perfect replacement for the ageing Leandro Trossard.

Arsenal chasing in-demand star

According to a recent report from Sky Sports Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg, Arsenal are one of several clubs who remain incredibly keen on Bayern Munich’s Mathys Tel.

Plettenberg has revealed that, as things stand, no club has been able to reach an agreement with the German behemoths regarding the French talent and that while the Gunners are “in talks” with them, there will be “no panic sale.”

One of the major stumbling blocks for the Red Devils appears to have been the fact that Bayern wanted them to sign the 19-year-old on a permanent deal or on loan with an obligation to buy, which could potentially be an issue for the North Londoners as well, especially as the offer they accepted from Tottenham Hotspur last week stood at around £50m.

It could be a complicated and potentially costly transfer to get over the line before the end of the day, but given Tel’s immense ability and potential, it is one well worth fighting for, especially as the club need to be thinking about a Trossard replacement.

Why Tel would be a dream Trossard replacement

So, the first thing to clear up is just why Arsenal would want to sign a replacement for Leandro Trossard this month, especially as it was only last season that he racked up a tally of 19 goal involvements in 46 games.

Well, it comes down to two things. The first is that while he was exceptional last year, this season has been a different story altogether, and while still reasonably impressive, a tally of five goals and six assists in 35 games isn’t really enough for a side gunning for the title.

The second reason is that, at 30 years old, the Waterschei-born winger is far closer to the end of his career than the start, and while footballers of today can play longer than they did in the past, research carried out by The Athletic revealed that wingers peak at around 26 and experience an incredibly sharp decline in their ability to take on defenders when they reach 30.

Moreover, with reports coming out last month that little to no progress was being made on a new contract for the former Brighton & Hove Albion ace, it makes sense to start looking for a young and exciting long-term replacement, which in this case would be Tel.

Now, it is true that the Frenchman hasn’t had the best of campaigns this year, but that is almost entirely down to the fact that Vincent Kompany has barely played him, as he’s made just four starts across 14 appearances, totalling 458 minutes.

However, when you look at how effective the Sarcelles-born dynamo was last season, the clamour from other sides to secure his signature becomes far easier to understand.

For example, in just 1406 minutes across 41 appearances, the “mind-blowing” talent, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, scored ten goals and provided six assists, meaning he maintained an average of a goal involvement every 87.87 minutes, which is an awe-inspiring rate of return.

Moreover, considering that he produced those numbers despite being just 18 at the start of the campaign, it really does feel like the sky is the limit for the Bayern ace.

Ultimately, with Trossard being on the wrong side of 30 and his rate of return declining this season, it’s time Arsenal signed a proper long-term replacement for him, and based on his sensational form last season, Tel appears to be the perfect candidate.