Diawara linked to swap deal
It was back in July that we at Gunners Town first picked up the scent of a potential deal with Roma for their defensive midfielder, Amadou Diawara. The Guinea International, as we discussed in the earlier article has all the attributes Arteta should be looking for but originally Diawara was touted as an alternative should Arsenal pursuit of Thomas Partey fail.
Of course, transfer rumours are rife at present and it is impossible to know which to believe and indeed where to place your bets using the Coral Mobile App for Android but this link now has some longevity. Indeed, Arsenal had scouted the player before he moved from Napoli to Roma only last summer.
The reason why the rumour might have returned and also why we should perhaps give it some credence is that Lucas Torreira, is a defensive midfielder proven in Italy and certainly not in Arteta’s plans, is of interest to Roma. Whilst this may not help with Roma’s worrying financial position, it would not worsen it and the Uruguayan is a safe bet having shone while at Sampdoria. From an Arsenal perspective, Diawara is far taller and more athletic, and Arteta might well feel, better suited to the rigours of the Premier League than Torreira.
On his way to Roma?
Swap deals are notoriously tricky to negotiate and rare but this is what has been suggested The added complication is that Torreira, given his international pedigree is valued at around £27 million whereas Diawara perhaps only at around £20m. It is certainly unlikely that Roma will be willing to add cash to the deal but that is one for Edu to work out.
A further question is whether Arsenal pursuing this deal means their interest in Partey has cooled. From my perspective I don’t believe this simple media analysis because whilst Diawara is a modern, game reading, intercepting anchor man, whilst Thomas Partey is so much more than just a defensive midfielder. Partey is more the Vieira type, combining a physicality with box to box attributes so we feel that signing Diawara as a replacement to Torreira is simply that and does not necessarily signal and end to Arsenal’s interest in the Ghanaian.
We will watch developments with interest…
Passionate fifty-something Arsenal supporter who has been making the journey to N5 regularly since the early 1980s – although his first game was in 1976. Always passionate when talking about The Arsenal, Dave decided to send a guest blog to Gunnersphere in the summer of 2011 and has not stopped writing about the Gunners since.
He set up his own site – 1 Nil Down 2 One Up – in February 2012, which he moved on in 2016 to concentrate on freelance writing and building Gunners Town, which he launched with Paul in 2014.
The objective of GT was to be new and fresh and to give a platform for likeminded passionate Arsenal fans wishing to write about their team. Dave still of course, writes for the site himself and advises the ever-changing writing crew.
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