Transfer news: Fabian Ruiz to Arsenal, Man United star’s PSG links, plus Marseille to raid PL again
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Fabian Ruiz linked with Arsenal, but would PSG sell?
Fabian Ruiz has been linked as a target for Arsenal and I think his situation is an interesting one to watch this summer. He obviously had a really good tournament with Spain at Euro 2024 and ended up with a winners’ medal, while he’s also generally been considered an important player by Luis Enrique at PSG.
Still, it would not be accurate to say that his time in Paris has gone entirely smoothly – there have been times when he’s failed to impose himself on the midfield, which followed a bit of a drop-off in form towards the end of his time at Napoli. I think this is an illustration of what Ruiz can do at his best, but he’s not always been at that level for PSG.
In terms of what happens next, and in terms of the interest from Arsenal and other clubs who’ve sat up and taken notice after his very convincing performances with Spain. I think a move would depend on what kind of offer is put on the table to PSG. We know Joao Neves is expected to come in shortly, while Renato Sanches will most likely be moving out, and Xavi Simons’ future also seems to lie at least for the coming season in Leipzig, though we’ll see what happens long-term with that.
So that’s a few names going out, but there’s also Gabriel Moscardo, and the assumption is that PSG’s starting midfield three will be Warren Zaire-Emery, Vitinha and one other player. So if you factor Ruiz in to a five-man rotation, there’s definitely still room for him in Paris and I think Enrique will be happy with how he performed with Spain and be hopeful that he can get Ruiz back into that kind of form in the season ahead.
PSG will probably wait and see if there is any offer put forward to the club and then move from there, but I don’t think there’s any real pressure to move Ruiz on. There might have been a time about a year ago, before Enrique came in, when it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that Ruiz would be a long-term fixture at PSG, but now I think his recent improvement in form and the fact that young players like Moscardo and Neves might need a bit of time to bed in might mean there is a need for someone like Ruiz.
As previously reported, Manuel Ugarte is another player who could be expected to move on, so that’s another reason to keep Ruiz around and it removes that pressure to move him on. Let’s see what kind of offers arrive, if any, but I wouldn’t expect a concentrated effort to push Ruiz towards the Parc des Princes exit.
Still some distance between Marseille and Arsenal on Eddie Nketiah transfer
Marseille have signed Mason Greenwood and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg this summer, and now Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah is another Premier League player they’re looking at. The latest on the deal is that there is some distance between what Arsenal want for Nketiah and what Marseille would be ready to offer. There is a desire, however, from Roberto de Zerbi to bring in that kind of player.
I don’t think OM will have been expecting this deal to be easy, but they perhaps also wouldn’t have expected it to be as complicated as it has been, particularly with other clubs interested and curious about his situation. I think there would be logic to this signing for Marseille, especially when you look at Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang moving on, so it’s a signing that could make sense with how De Zerbi will want to play.
Marseille’s signings so far have been good and I think they can look towards the new season with optimism. It sounds like they have a lot more business that they want to get done, not just in attack but in defence too and possibly in goal as well. I think we can expect to see OM make a couple more significant moves, while some defenders might move on as well.
It’s a summer that’s been fascinating so far, and I think the Nketiah move isn’t one that many people will have seen coming, so let’s see what happens and if there are any others that De Zerbi knows from his time in the Premier League that he might be keen to bring to Marseille. There are still some obvious holes in the Marseille squad which will need strengthening in the coming weeks, but the moves they’ve made so far have been very interesting.
Jadon Sancho or Nico Williams to PSG?
It’s been interesting to see some of the rumours about Jadon Sancho being a target for PSG. We’re also seeing Nico Williams linked, and it’s not too surprising to see players like this linked with the club as it’s pretty clear PSG need players with that kind of star power on the left-hand side after the departure of Kylian Mbappe.
Still, I think many people are also overlooking the fact that Bradley Barcola could be ready to step up and fill the void left by Mbappe. I think he’s definitely ready to take on a role as a regular starter in that position for the season ahead, so I don’t think a new signing like Sancho or Williams is that clear cut.
Williams also just had a great season for Spain at Euro 2024, so it’s hard to see there not being a lot of competition for his signature. With Sancho, though, it will be interesting to see if PSG actually put an offer on Manchester United’s table for him. Obviously for now Sancho and Erik ten Hag seem to have agreed to forget what’s gone on in the past and focus on the future, so there could be a way for Sancho to stay there and rebuild his career at Old Trafford.
PSG got a close look at Sancho, though, in their Champions League tie with Borussia Dortmund last season, so they’ve seen what he can do in an environment he feels more comfortable in, and perhaps one less weighed down with expectation, as has been the case in Manchester.
So while there is interest from PSG in players of this kind of profile, and a desire to bolster their attack, I don’t think it’s a given that we’ll see Sancho or Williams join. They’ll want to go about this in an intelligent way and not rush into things, so we’ll probably continue to hear rumblings about PSG and these players, but we know that Williams is the subject of interest from Barcelona, so that might create a bit of rush in a time when PSG are looking to get Joao Neves in and Manuel Ugarte out of the door, so we’ll see where they go from there.
I think we’ll see PSG strengthen in attack but I think it’s still a bit early to know for sure who their priorities will be, so let’s see who’s still available and of interest to them once they sort out some of the more pressing issues in their squad first.
Bordeaux’s sad downfall is a cautionary tale for Everton and others
It’s extremely sad to see what’s gone on at Bordeaux in the last few days. The situation finally came to a head after financial problems that had been building for a number of years, and it’s seen them essentially cease to be a professional club.
I think it’s also a warning to other clubs in France, because there are clubs going down a similar path financially and not putting themselves in a position where they are able to overcome the financial difficulties of the last few years. With TV rights in Europe also likely to be an issue in France and other countries over the next few years, I think this is an issue that will come up again, and so Bordeaux and other French clubs might be a bit of a case study.
When you look at the difficulties of someone like Everton, for instance, who, despite being in the Premier League and having the influx of money that brings, there are some very pertinent parallels there. Everton are also trying to build a new stadium and that ended up being part of Bordeaux’s downfall. They built a new stadium for Euro 2016 and it’s become a bit of a weight around their neck, as they built up so much debt that when FSG came looking at the club it meant that it was basically impossible for them to project towards the future and it wasn’t helped by the current state of French football.
It’s been an emotional and saddening period to see Bordeaux fall into such a state of disrepair. There is of course some hope that they can be salvaged in the third tier and win back their professional status in the next couple of years, but there’s also no guarantee that they’ll be considered financially viable, so that might mean they have to be re-birthed like a number of Italian clubs have been, such as Parma and Fiorentina in recent history.
So it’s a very difficult time for Bordeaux fans and fans of French football – it’s been a very sobering summer and it’s unfortunately probably going to take a while to resolve, and it could even get worse before it gets better.
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