Arsenal reaching an agreement over personal terms for Benjamin Sesko is premature, it has been claimed in his home country of Slovenia.
On Wednesday morning, news broke – initially from German outlet Bild – that the Gunners had made a significant breakthrough in talks by agreeing personal terms for Sesko with negotiations subsequently underway over the fee that would be paid to RB Leipzig.
The 22-year-old has seemingly been Arsenal’s priority striker signing, over Viktor Gyokeres of Sporting CP, for the last few weeks after concrete talks began.
Plenty has been said about his asking price since then with some suggestions he could even cost £92.5million -which is significantly more than his supposed release clause. With Leipzig needing to sell, it is more likely he will leave for roughly £67.4million.
However, reports from elsewhere in Germany have stated that the Gunners do not seem willing to pay that sum. That development was corroborated by Slovenian website Ekipa – and they have also now shed some light on the apparent agreement between Arsenal and Sesko.
Their update states that, after speaking to sources close to Sesko, news of any agreement is premature and ultimately ‘fake’.
Talks between both parties are underway, but the conflicting reports indicate the deal is not as advanced as it has been claimed in places. Sesko potentially signing for Arsenal is still on, but a final decision on either him or Gyokeres may not have been made just yet.
The transfer saga surrounding the latter has turned ugly as of late – with both the player and Sporting publicly commenting on the fee he would be allowed to leave for. From the perspective of Gyokeres and his camp, the belief was that he could be sold if a bid totalling £59.5million (€70m) was submitted.
However, Sporting are now demanding an amount in the region of £67.4million (€80m) to sell their prized asset. “One thing you should already know is me better. Threats, blackmail and insults don’t work with me,” Sporting CP president Federico Varandas admitted recently.
“I can guarantee that Viktor Gyokeres will not leave for €60m+10m (£51m+£8.5m), because I never promised him that. This game that the agent is playing only makes the situation worse. To this day, Sporting has not had an offer for Viktor Gyookeres, neither today nor last season.”
With it appearing a choice between Gyokeres and Sesko for Arsenal, Elvis Basanovic, who is the latter’s agent, has told transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, via Give Me Sport, that there is no battle happening between the duo.
“Let me tell you; Sesko is not competing with anyone. It’s him vs him every day. We have a clear plan for the future and media speculation doesn’t affect us. Sesko is not just a striker, he is a special striker.”
On if the plan is to leave Leipzig and if they are trying to seal an exit below the German club’s valuation, he added: “His numbers at his age compared with some strikers with already great careers at his age are confirming my words.
“He will move from RB Leipzig only when we recognise a special club, a special project with a special coach.
“[Pressing Leipzig to agree a lower fee with Arsenal] is far from truth! We respect RB Leipzig and I am 100 per cent convinced RB Leipzig will also respect our decision for the next step when we decide to do it.”
