Arsenal Transfer News: Kostas Manolas Bid Revealed by Agent, Latest Rumours
The agent of AS Roma star Kostas Manolas has said Arsenal had a €40 million (roughly £35 million) summer offer for the Greek international rejected.
The player's representative, Ioannis Evangelopoulos, made the comments during a recent interview with Tuttomercatoweb (h/t ESPN FC's Ben Gladwell):
"Probably there will be something in the summer, if anything. In general, it's hard to make predictions in football, as it is in life. Kostas has the opportunity to play at a higher level, so I would not expect him to go to China.
European football can offer things that money cannot buy, like fame and repute. I don't know where he would like to play, we would have to see which clubs are interested.
Last summer, a bid of around €40m from Arsenal was turned down for Kostas. Arsenal had shown interest before, but Roma's demands were higher than the English club were willing to go.
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According to The Sun (h/t Gladwell), Manchester United are also interested in the Roma man and are said to be preparing a £47.6 million offer.
Manolas has popped up on the transfer rumour mill periodically over the last 12 months thanks to his strong run of form in Serie A. The 25-year-old has always been an impressive physical specimen, but he has become far more comfortable with the ball in Italy and has improved his vision tremendously.
Roma are stacked at the centre-back position, so it's telling that the Greece international is still regarded as their top option, ahead of the likes of Antonio Rudiger, Juan Jesus and Federico Fazio.
Here's a look at some of his highlights:
With Thomas Vermaelen joining the Giallorossi during the summer, there was plenty of speculation one of Roma's top defenders was set to depart. At the time, there were some question marks regarding the club's ability to meet UEFA's financial fair play regulations, per ESPN FC's Terry Daley.
The reported £35 million offer would have been on the low end of the scale for Manolas, who is still relatively young and projects as a top-class defender.
According to Ed Aarons and Dominic Fifield of the Guardian, the Gunners ended up paying a similar fee for Shkodran Mustafi, who wasn't as highly regarded at the time.
Incidentally, this isn't the first time this January window someone has said Arsenal were shot down in their approach of a Serie A star.
As shared by Sky Sports' Guglielmo Cannavale, Torino sporting director Gianluca Petrachi made similar comments regarding star striker Andrea Belotti just days ago:
Belotti only just signed a new deal with Torino—which includes a massive buyout clause of €100 million (£86.6 million), per ESPN FC—and in all likelihood, he won't be going anywhere in the foreseeable future.
The 23-year-old is a fantastic prospect, but he's only just scratching the surface of his potential and finds himself in the optimal situation right now.
Things are different for Manolas, who has been linked with a move away from Roma for some time now and is expected to leave the Giallorossi at the end of this season.
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