After the opening day 0-0 draw, Arsene Wenger feels it might be time to make one final push in the transfer market, this time aiming his sights and club’s cash at Jesus Navas of Sevilla, not exactly known for being excited about travelling and being too far from his home and family in Seville.
A Romani Gypsy, Navas, a 26 year old winger who has played his entire career for Sevilla, winning two Spanish cups and two UEFA Cups is known to suffer from chronic homesickness, which is part of the reason he has yet to leave the Spanish club despite the constant interest in him since his teenage years. He has traveled with the Spanish national team to the triumphant campaigns in the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, but simply put, he prefers being close to home and his family as much as possible.
Do Arsenal need a winger, specifically? Not sure. But they need something, and maybe adding Navas to the mix has something to do with Theo Walcott and his desire to leave the club now that Robin van Persie is gone. Santi Cazorla urged Wenger to bring in more players before the transfer window deadline so Arsenal will be able to challenge for the title this season, and it seems Wenger has listened and is going for a Spanish flavor, although a very hard to obtain one.
First comes the Navas not really wanting to play abroad matter, which is pretty much the biggest issue in this deal. The second issue? Money. Navas has a release clause of €35 million, but Arsenal, according to rumors, are only willing to offer €15 at the moment. Unless Sevilla are really strapped for cash (which seems to be a problem for every team in Spain these days), they aren’t too keen on letting Navas go either. Arsenal may have to offer quite a lot to sign a player who’s been capped 21 times for the national side, more than the board might allow Wenger. Profits to care about and all.
Navas himself enjoyed his best season for Sevilla last year, scoring 5 goals and adding 14 assists, both career highs, while missing only one league game during the season. He has a total of 23 goals in 250 matches for Sevilla, making his debut in 2003, just after his 18th birthday. If he’ll arrive, he’ll be Wenger’s fourth addition this summer after Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla.