MADUEKE DEAL WILL BE £30M
Some people wake up in the morning and choose war… over transfer news. They have friends, family, sometimes children… and those people can all see the tweets. But they do it anyway. Some know what they’re doing is embarrassing, so they set up burner accounts to abuse people talking about transfers. We live in a really sick world and if one more person calls cuck fraud, I might have to respond strongly with a report to the UK Metropolitan Police. You’ll do jail time, and I won’t care.
So, what’s causing such an incredible stir right now? Noni Madueke’s transfer fee. £50m is the number being pushed by Fabrizio Romano — and that has sent people.
Okay, let’s get to it… a few things to know. Fabrizio is deeply in bed with Chelsea Football Club. He does their bidding in exchange for information that helps his business empire. When you’re in the business of information, sometimes you might do things that aren’t entirely accurate — and when you’re a football ITK for a living, you don’t have to adhere to the standards others do.
So… when you see a fee of £50m being pushed, understand that it won’t be Arsenal driving that number in the market. It’ll be Chelsea. The number one rule of assessing transfer rumours is to look at who the rumor benefits.
The agent
The buying club
The selling club
Why do Chelsea have an interest in selling high? Well, they have to shift players because they fell foul of UEFA rules. If they want to register their new signings for the Champions League next season, they need to raise a minimum of £60m in sales to make up the deficit.
Chelsea do not have an easy route to that number. Nkunku is injury-prone and valued at £35m. Nico Jackson might get a move to Villa, but they’re not in a position to throw big money around. Then there’s the leverage problem… every club in Europe knows Chelsea are desperate to sell because they’ve got too many players on the books.
They know there’s not a huge market for their players and they are probably discovering that their model of becoming a ‘premium Brighton’ is not going to work out. They’ll be in the ‘buy high, sell low’ category of clubs this summer because everyone knows their problem.
Now let’s talk about Arsenal. What do we know about our summer so far? The key theme: installments. Arsenal paid more than the release clause for Zubimendi because they wanted to spread the payments and stretch their transfer allotment further. The Gyökeres deal is currently held up for similar reasons — fee structure, payment terms, and add-ons. Same for the Eze deal. That £60m number would come down if we could do it in a lump sum.
Read: The ownership group has not given Berta £250m to play with. They’ve handed over money for key positions, but the rest has to be made up with creative accounting and smart selling.
Back to Madueke… there is simply no way Arsenal will pay over the odds for a backup to Bukayo Saka — especially to a club with no leverage in the deal. That’s why we agreed terms with the player and then… did nothing. This deal will either get done early at a much lower price closer to £30m, or Arsenal will force it to drag and strike when Chelsea are desperate.
The club isn’t going to pay a premium for a player that doesn’t have a market outside Arsenal. Chelsea need to sell and are desperate for cash. Arsenal know that — and they’ll either get a good deal, or take their money elsewhere.
So, put down the burner account, trust the process, and stop taking bait from sources that have agendas you’ve totally missed.
Ok, get the EARLY BIRD special with one of my favorite writers on Arsenal… Sam Dean of The Telegraph. He gives our Therapy Session some really great nuance and detail I think you’re gonna love. Get on board right now and give him a follow here.