Diego Costa ‘can be good’ for Arsenal but is tipped to ‘turn down’ Prem return by former Gunner

William Gallas feels the personality of Diego Costa “can be good” for Arsenal, but believes the former Chelsea man would “turn down” the chance to move there because of his Blues connection.

Arsenal have been left without strikers Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz for the rest of the season due to injuries. With Bukayo Saka also currently sidelined, they are left with the bare bones in attack.

In their last game against Leicester, their attack featured Leandro Trossard up top, with Raheem Sterling – who’s struggled for minutes this season – and 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri either side of him.

The injury situation has benefitted Nwaneri, who’s developing at a good rate, but the Gunners would surely rather have some more quality in other areas, and not be susceptible to a crisis if another injury occurs.

Some fans have proposed free agent Costa as a potential striker reinforcement, and Gallas has assessed the chances of the move working out, though it’s not one which is likely to happen.

“Diego Costa is a free agent and he is a big character, that can be good for your squad when you need the mood to be lifted,” Gallas said.

“However, I could see him clashing with Mikel Arteta. He won’t fit in with the mood at the club and I think it would go the wrong way. Even though they need a striker.

“Chelsea fans would also be gutted, I actually think he would turn down the move because of his history there and how the fans would react.

“He is a big character and that can help some teams, but not with his history. He is of a different generation and I think it would be hard for him to fit in.”

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Arsenal won’t go after free agents

Naturally, most of the decent strikers in the world are currently attached to clubs, but Costa has not played since he left Gremio in January.

But even with the slim pickings available, he may not be a fantastic choice, having scored just once in 14 Serie A games for Gremio.

In fact, since leaving Chelsea after the 2016/17 campaign, in which they won the Premier League and Costa scored 20 goals and assisted another seven, the striker has not been at the top of his game,

His highest goals tally since then was eight, and at 36, a return to the top level of English football seems ambitious.

It might not matted much, as Fabrizio Romano recently reported that Arsenal will not go after a free agent amid their striker crisis, and it does not seem they need to, with midfielder Mikel Merino scoring a brace at the end of the Leicester game, having come on up top.

Arsenal round-up: Endrick move prepared

Arsenal are said to be preparing an offer to take promising young striker Endrick away from Real Madrid.

Another striker offer is also said to be in the works, for £150million-rated Newcastle man Alexander Isak.

Meanwhile, Harry Kane is unlikely to head to the Emirates, with an insider stating they’d be unlikely to go after him due to his age (32).

Arsenal are moving towards the signing of midfielder Martin Zubimendi, though, with TEAMtalk sources stating while a full agreement is not in place, a broad set of terms have been agreed for the Real Sociedad man thus far.

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