Arsenal open talks with £23m playmaker with Arteta ready to offload flops

Orkun Kokcu TEAMtalk

Mikel Arteta will let a trio of Arsenal players leave in the summer in order to a fund a move for Feyenoord starlet Orkun Kokcu, claims a report.

The Arsenal boss, who has seen his summer transfer warchest reduced after the Gunners were knocked out of the Europa League, will have to wheel and deal in the summer market.

The Daily Mail claims Arsenal will try and offload Mesut Ozil, Matteo Guendouzi, Ashley Maitland-Niles and Sokratis Papastathopoulos in order to finance a deal for 19-year-old Kokcu.

The paper report that “Arsenal have opened talks with Feyenoord” for the playmaker with a £23million transfer fee mentioned.

The Turkey U21 attacking midfielder has scored two goals and grabbed four assists in 21 Eredivisie games this season and is under contract until 2023.

It’s not the first time the Mail have linked Arsenal with Kokcu. Back in October while Unai Emery was in charge they claimed Arsenal were “planning a £20million approach”.

And more recently last month the same paper claimed Arsenal were plotting a summer move for the player with his price tag at £15million.

The newspaper have previously claimed that with Kokcu is set to be included in Turkey’s Euro 2020 squad, and then a host of clubs will be queuing up to take a look at him and potentially make a move.

Now though having watched the player for over 18 months, Arsenal are ready to make their move and prepared to offload some fringe players.

Earlier this week, centre-back Sokratis insisted he will not “sit” on his contract at Arsenal and would look to move on if he becomes disillusioned at being out of the team.

 

 

 

Three of his last five starts have come in the unfamiliar position of right-back, including at Fratton Park, and he has not been named in a Premier League starting line-up since January 11.

Sokratis, 31, moved to the Emirates Stadium from Borussia Dortmund in 2018 and having previously said he would leave when his contract expired in 2021, Sokratis suggested that could change.

“I don’t know,” he replied when asked if he would leave next year. “I have one more year here but me, I never sit on my contract.

 

 

“I don’t care. If I’m not happy, I don’t play enough or the coach doesn’t like me, I don’t care about the contract.

“For me the money is not important, it is important I feel good, I feel happy and the team is happy with me. If not, I take the road and I finish.”