Arsenal are facing a major problem should they complete a move for Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Goal reports that Mikel Arteta’s Gunners are eyeing a £7m transfer of the Cameroon international, with regular first-choice stopper Bernd Leno open to a summer switch, football.london understands.
Having been part of the Barcelona youth system and impressed with current employers Ajax, the capture of Onana would be a considerable coup for Arsenal’s technical director Edu.
However, the club are facing a considerable problem and that is the fact that the 25-year-old is banned from football due to a doping violation, a punishment that was handed to him in February of this year.
As a result of the one-year ban, he is not permitted to play or even train with teammates.
The ban has been appealed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport also having investigated.
The appeal is set to be scheduled for June, but Onana will remain out of action until at least the new year if it remains upheld.
Specifically, Onana’s ban relates to the substance Furosemide reportedly being found in his system during a drug test, the taking of which the goalkeeper reiterated was a mistake having originally thought it was aspirin.
In a statement released on social media at the time of his original ban, Onana said: “I just want to clarify that everything was as a result of a human mistake.
“I mistook a medicine containing a substance banned by WADA for a simple aspirin. The medicine was prescribed to my girlfriend and I mistakenly took it for aspirin because the packaging was almost identical, which I greatly regret.
“I have to say that I respect the UEFA appeals body, but I do not share their decision in this case. I consider it excessive and disproportionate as it had been acknowledged by UEFA that it was an unintentional mistake.
“Everyone knows that I lead a very healthy life and since I started my sporting career, I have always been strongly against any use of doping and I condemn any unsportsmanlike conduct.”
