If you’re the sort of fan who believes everything you, then you will no doubt be aware that Arsenal are pretty much dotting I’s and crossing the T’s in a deal for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
The Dutch hitman is a man we all know too well about, having scored past us twice this season as well as netting the first-ever goal at the Emirates Stadium in Dennis Bergkamp’s testimonial back in 2006.
The 29-year-old’s current contract expires with Die Knappen in the summer and, after promising initial talks, he looks unlikely to agree a fresh deal with his current employers.
According to French news outlet L’Equipe, we are very close to agreeing personal terms with the forward, who is thought to be keen on a switch to England, ahead of a move in the January transfer window.
Huntelaar has also been linked with a possible move to Serie A outfit Inter Milan and fellow Premier League team Liverpool but apparently it looks as if he has chosen North London as his next destination.
The fact that we can boast Champions League football over our Europa League rivals could play a huge part in any potential deal, and Arsene Wenger could even land the player for a fee as little as £4m.
Bargain.
But why should we trust the source from France who are touting a man from the Netherlands to move to England? Quite bizarre isn’t it.
Well apparently not, if you cast your memories back to the summer when L’Equipe reported the Gunners’ signings of Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla from Montpellier HSC and Malaga respectively before the English press earlier this year
So it turns out that the newspaper could be on to something here, and it seems like a very Wenger-esque deal.
I personally can’t see a fault with the deal, apart from that he would be cup-tied for the remainder of Arsenal’s Champions League campaign this season. However, surely Giroud could take a role in that competition, and not risk being burnt out by playing every game in the league.
Huntelaar is the sort of striker who I think would do wonders for us. He is a complete striker, good in the air, good on the floor and possesses a lethal goalscoring instinct.
I can see him working really well in our formation as well, finding space to be picked out from the flanks or by any of our marvellous midfield trio.
The only concern is his age, it’s hard to believe that the former Ajax man is 29 but when you think about it, he has been around for some time and you cannot be a youngster forver.
So there could be some worry over his potential resale value, but if we were to scoop him up for around £5m then I don’t think that we can go wrong.
We desperately need more strikers, and I think Huntelaar would be Klaas for Arsenal if we were to sign him in Jan (See what I did there).
Matt Cotton
Not bad at all