Here are the Arsenal morning headlines for Saturday, August 15.
Agent rules out Fernandes links
Sporting CP teen Joelson Fernandes has been dubbed the 'new Cristiano Ronaldo' and Arsenal have been linked with a summer move for the Portuguese star.
The links come as the player’s agent Kia Joorabchian plays an increasingly prominent and influential role in the Gunners transfer dealings.
However, Joorabchian has denied the 17-year-old could be on his way to the Emirates.
“Everybody is linking a lot of players to a lot of clubs, particularly more so with Arsenal than others,” Joorabchian told talkSPORT, via the Express.
“Today I read something about Joelson Fernandes, that Arsenal have made an offer etc, etc.
“He’s young, phenomenal talent, but we’ve never, ever spoken about him to Arsenal.
“I’ve probably seen like 25 articles about him and Arsenal and it’s so untrue, because I’ve never even spoken about him, I’ve never even mentioned him to Arsenal.
“He’s at Sporting and he’s young, he’s just broken into the first team at the age of 17, so he’s going to take time to mature and get there.
“So there’s always a lot of rumours in the market because obviously we’re in the business where fans want to know and journalists have to try to see what’s going on and they’re going to pick up on the very smallest of rumours and run with it. But sometimes it’s quite far from the truth.”
Willian deal compared to Van Dijk
Former Gunners midfielder Ray Parlour has compared the club’s signing of Willian to the deal Liverpool concluded for Virgil van Dijk two years ago.
Parlour claimed that the money involved - in terms of wages - in the deal were irrelevant if Willian proved such an upgrade in the position with his performances.
"He's been brilliant for Chelsea and I'm sure the Chelsea fans will have been delighted with his form over the years. I think it's a good signing for Arsenal," Parlour told talkSPORT.
"He will give the goals from midfield that they are probably lacking at the moment. It's all about performances, you can go back to Virgil van Dijk when he went to Liverpool, people were saying it's too much for a centre-half but look at the performances.
"Nobody mentions it now because he's been so important for them winning the league and winning the Champions League. It's all about performances on the pitch, money shouldn't come into it.
"Arsenal's logic is, they're going to pay him £10million a year, but that sort of player would demand a lot more if you were going to go and buy someone, so in that respect it's not a bad deal."
Gunners fans clamour for Coutinho deal
Philippe Coutinho scored twice and provided an assist during his cameo appearance in Bayern Munich’s 8-2 win over Barcelona on Friday.
As highlighted by football.london, Arsenal fans went into overdrive as the Brazilian has been linked with a summer move to the Emirates.
The former Liverpool playmaker’s loan deal at Bayern expires this summer and it is said that Barcelona are desperate to move him on again, with Arsenal strongly linked.
His role in Friday night’s remarkable result has led to many Gunners fans pressing their club to move ahead with a transfer.
