England International Hawked To Arsenal
You may recall an article I wrote regarding Arsenal’s transfer window inactivity.
This caused a deluge of tweets guessing at who the England International that had been hawked to Arsenal was.
At the time I didn’t want to name the player but having been inundated with requests to reveal who the player is, I’ve decided to do exactly that.
Arsenal’s Chief Scout, Steve Rowley received a phone call from Michael Sturridge, the father of Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge.
Sturridge Senior told Rowley that his son wanted to play for Arsenal, that he likes their brand of football and believes Arsene Wenger is the manager that can get the best out of him, certainly more so than Andre Villas Boas at Stamford Bridge.
Rowley has since scouted Sturridge personally and Arsenal may well make a move in the summer.
Of course, agents and advisors contact clubs in this manner all the time to put them on alert of availability. Sturridge may well harbour ambitions to join Arsenal, but remember that interest from rival clubs in a player can prove a valuable bargaining chip when renegotiating contracts.
With Sturridge having been Chelsea’s most potent striker this season, and with two years left on his current contract, the England international would command a big transfer fee, which you could say would rule a move to Arsenal out. And Wenger may not see Sturridge as a priority signing and best use of his transfer budget.
What is clear though is that Wenger’s interest in Luckasz Podolski shows his intention in providing similar cover for Robin Van Persie – a mobile, versatile left footed, international class striker. Sturridge most certainly fits that bill – he has ‘super quality’.
There is also the fact that RVP is still to sign a contract extension to his current deal that expires in June 2013 – a niggle that plays on the minds of all Gooners, and Wenger himself.
In my opinion he’d be a fantastic addition. He’s also a boyhood Arsenal fan which is probably the reason that his dad’s contacted us. I trust Wenger’s decision when it comes to this though. How many of us cried out for a top class winger when we’d got the Ox already?
Interesting.
Anyway, I’d have a question about the scouted players. As far as I know, Arsenal are monitoring 20-30+ players over a season, so the actual rumours are not necceseraily untrue. But can you suggest that which leagues Arsenal scouts are watching exactly? I’ve got a favourite player, named Henrik Mkhitaryan, who plays for Shakhtar Donetsk. There was a rumour regarding him on another site in early December, but I haven’t heard any new on that front. Could you help please, in this sense, if you have this really good source? Thank you in advance.
Sorry, I haven’t heard anything regarding Mkhitaryan, though Arsenal scouts have watched Shakhtar in the past, mainly to take a close look at Willian and Luiz Adriano.
regardin mkhitaryan. to make it short – he’s useless (livin in Ukraine, i know what i’m talkin about).
we offered Dortmund last summer 40 mill € for Gotze so the money cant be an issue at all.
Sturridge would be a quality signing, I really doubt it would happen anytime soon. If anything Wenger will hold out for a bid until his contract is almost expired and try get him on the cheap.