Arsenal Must Pay £26 million for Eden Hazard

Eden Hazard, one of Arsenal's prime targets to replace Samir Nasri in the attacking midfield position will cost a considerable sum of around £26 million, according to reports in France.

The French news outlet, RTBF Sport claimed today that Arsenal are ready to offer Lille over 20 million euros to bring the 20 year-old Belgian to the Emirates. However, it is now being reported that the French club are preparing to rebuff the offer by placing a hefty £26 million (30 million euro) price tag on Hazard.

Yesterday, Wenger made the bold claim that Arsenal would spend money if he believes a player would add the desired qualities to his team, whether they cost £2 million or £20 million: "If it is for two million pounds or 20 million pounds we will do it if he adds quality to our squad. We have all our scouts all over the world and we look everywhere."

It is a statement which will encourage Arsenal fans troubled by the sale and imminent departure of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, but will Wenger go that extra mile for Eden Hazard, a player whom he has tracked for several years?

He is a hugely promising talent, and has said in the past he would like to join Arsenal if he is to leave Lille. Wenger also publicly declared his interest in the player, saying back in January: "We are following him (Hazard). Personally I think he has real talent and the level needed to play at Arsenal."

But Wenger has already been priced out of a move for Valencia's Juan Mata, and Arsenal may be fearing that situation could happen all over again with Hazard, whom Lille are extremely keen to keep. They have repeated again and again that their hot prospect, who scored 12 and assisted 10 goals last season is "not for sale at any price," while the club President Michel Seydoux stated at the start of August that his star player is comfortable in France:

“I am not sure he wants to leave anyway. He knows his status here and at a large club there is much more uncertainty."

Indeed, there is a lot of uncertainty at Arsenal at the moment as to who is coming and who is going, with Samir Nasri's future still as clear as mud, however, everything is not exactly steady at Lille in terms of transfers.

Having already sold their Ivorian striker, Gervinho to Arsenal this summer, Lille are also facing losing their other attacker in Mousso Sow, who yesterday announced his desire to join Gervinho at Arsenal. If Hazard were to agree a move away from France, the summer will have seen the whole of Lille's front line miserably dismantled, although that circumstance seems highly unlikely.

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Radamel Falcao Available for Arsenal & Chelsea?

Premier League clubs will have been taking a keen interest in the appointment of FC Porto's Andre Villas-Boas as Chelsea manager, with some of Porto's players perhaps ready to follow in the 33 year-old manager's footsteps and join the Premier League. In particular, Porto's star striker, Radamel Falcao, who has been interesting both Arsenal and Chelsea specifically.

Chelsea would of course, be the immediate favourites, as they could use their new manager, Villas-Boas as bait, who could be a direct link and companion in a new country for Falcao. The 25 year-old striker had a fantastic season with Porto with his manager, and has a good relationship with him, as well as a clearly successful one, so if the offer of a partnership were to arise, Falcao, who has admitted that he would "like to experience" being at one of the "big English clubs like Arsenal and Tottenham" recently, would of course jump at the chance of signing for a top Premier League side.

Another factor which may end up swinging away from Arsenal and towards Chelsea in the race to sign Falcaou is his asking price. Falcao has a release clause in his contract of £26.5 million, which so far has not been matched, but if it were to be, Porto will have to allow negotiations to occur.

Arsenal, under the guidance of Arsene Wenger are often reluctant to spend big amounts of money, while the new Chelsea manager will most certainly be given a healthy balance by Roman Abramovich to propel the team to Champions League glory. However, Wenger has been given a substantial amount of backing by certain Arsenal shareholders this summer, so if Wenger were to see Falcao as a future Arsenal player, it seems he has the money to make it happen.


Arsenal are close to capturing Lille's Ivorian forward Gervinho, but as Nicklas Bendtner seems certain to leave the club, Arsenal may well be looking for some further additions to the front line, especially considering their previous bad fortune with injuries and bad form with van Persia and Marouanne Chamakh respectively. 


Likewise, with Chelsea's forward line getting increasingly older, as well as some whispers that Didier Drogba could be on his way, Falcao, who scored 38 goals in 42 appearances last season would be an excellent acquisition for the London side.
The players agent, Claudio Mossi said of any possible Chelsea interest:

"If Villas-Boas is the new coach of Chelsea it is normal for players that are closest to follow him."

"But at the moment I have not heard from anyone from Chelsea, although the player would like such a destination."

While he explained the situation about Arsenal and Tottenham's interest in Falcao:

"These clubs [Arsenal and Tottenham] are always interested, but they have been blocked by Porto's €30 million [£26.5m] release clause."

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Arsenal Close On Gervinho - Odemwingie Latest

It is looking more and more likely by the day that Lille will be forced to let go of their star striker, Gervinho amid growing interest from the Premier League, mainly from Arsenal

Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham are all fighting for the signature of the Ivorian forward, with Arsenal reported to be in "pole position". However, for any chance of Gervinho joining Wenger at Arsenal, the manager would have to be willing to spend around £15 million on the 23 year-old, whose contract expires in 12 months time.

Liverpool have apparently placed a bid of £11 million for Gervinho, but Lille, who were thought to be prepared to sell their striker for only £6 million at the start of negotiations rejected Liverpool's offer, and requested a £4 million improvement.

According to several news sources, Arsene Wenger has been impressed by Gervinho this season, as the Arsenal manager watched his target score 14 goals and assist 9 for a Lille side who eventually won the Coupe de France - the French equivalent to the English FA Cup.

Gervinho said he would decide his future after his country's African Cup of Nation's qualifier against Benin today, and now that the game is over - Ivory Coast won 6 - 2, and qualified for the competition - an announcement should be close.

Arsenal's search for a striker has also led them to a reported bid of £4 million for West Brom's Peter Odemwingie. However, that deal now seems increasingly unlikely, because of the, firstly the size of the bid, and secondly, Roy Hodgson's adamant stance that Odemwingie will remain at the Hawthorns next season.

Hodgson has apparently offered Odemwingie a new deal to ward off Arsenal's interest, saying:

"I’m confident of keeping our top players, including Peter. They have contracts and the club are not keen on selling."

"We don’t need to sell players because everyone knows Albion are a well run club. We have no debts and we are not in the situation that many clubs are in, having to sell to match budgets."

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Arsenal Out of Eden Hazard Race

Lille's general director Frederic Paquet has ruled Arsenal and every other club out of the race to sign their Belgian starlet Eden Hazard, because he said it would take "silly sums" of money to prize open the clubs hands to let him go. He added that it was a 99.9% certainty that Hazard will not leave in the summer, despite growing interest from big clubs all over the world.
He said:

"Like all players of this era, he [Hazard] is curious. There are offers which cannot be refused but they would have to be silly sums of money. It is 99.9 per cent sure that he will not leave because we want to keep him."

This comes days after Lille's club president Michel Seydoux confirmed that Hazard is not for sale and would not be sold at "any price" because he is an "integral" player for the future of the club. Arsenal had been strongly linked and the London clubs manager Arsene Wenger had previously expressed his interest in signing the player who he described as a "real talent" who plays at the level needed to play for Arsenal.

Hazard played 37 times in Lille's Championship winning side this season, scoring seven and assisting eight.
An explosive, attacking winger who can often be a defenders nightmare with a similar style to Barcelona's Lionel Messi, Hazard is described as having "immense talent".

As I have said before on the blog at 20 years-old, his potential is huge, and is the kind of player Wenger is constantly looking for. However, thanks to both the players huge quality and Lille's desire to keep him, he would cost a hefty fee, with at least £16 - 20 million being quoted, but that sum would now not be enough to satisfy Lille as the "silly money" they have asked for would probably be well up in the £30-40 million mark - an amount that Wenger and Arsenal would surely not be willing to pay for any player.

Eden Hazard to Arsenal Transfer Latest

Arsenal and Arsene Wenger have made it very clear that they are looking at Eden Hazard very closely in the hope of one day buying the 20 year old Belgian. Currently owned by the French Champions Lille though, Hazard is very much still wanted, and the clubs president has made clear his intentions to keep their young play maker.
Hazard's club president Michel Seydoux confirmed:

"Eden is not available for transfer. We have met, and the decision is that it he will not be sold for any price." 

"We have won two trophies this season and have a project we are working on." 

"Hazard is included in this plan and is an integral part of it. That is why he will not be leaving."

That is a big blow to Arsenal's "busy summer", as Wenger's interest in January was made clear as he said: 

"We are following him (Hazard). Personally I think he has real talent and the level needed to play at Arsenal."

Hazard played 37 times in Lille's Championship winning side this season, scoring seven and assisting eight.
An explosive, attacking winger who can often be a defenders nightmare with a similar style to Barcelona's Lionel Messi, Hazard is described as having "immense talent".

At 20 years-old, his potential is huge, and is the kind of player Wenger is constantly looking for. However, thanks to both the players huge quality and Lille's desire to keep him, he would cost a hefty fee, with at least £16 - 20 million being quoted.

Arsenal's rivals Tottenham are also said to be interested, but the player has said on several occasions that if he does leave Lille, which I believe can only be a matter of time, he will go to only Arsenal or Real Madrid. He has also very recently said that he wants to play for a big club in the future, in a major championship and has also expressed an interest in Arsenal's system of helping younger player make a name for themselves in the first team very quickly.

Lille may not want to let him go, but with Hazard's quality and aspirations both very high, as well as interesting several top teams, it seems the French club will have to let him go in the near future.

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