Reports linking Arsenal with a move for Southampton winger Mohamed Elyounoussi have raised an eyebrow or two.
After all, it’s not as though the £16 million winger has taken the Premier League by storm on the South Coast – only scoring his first goal in the competition a couple of weeks ago following two seasons on loan at Celtic.
But delve a little deeper and you’ll find a rumour that goes back to 2017. We may have seen only flashes of Elyounoussi’s quality on English shores but Arsenal are no strangers to his mercurial talent.
Four years ago, HITC exclusively reported Arsenal were tracking a little-known 22-year-old who had made a lightning start to life at Basel after joining from Malmo.
According to The Sun, Arsenal also scouted Elyounoussi during a Champions League round-of-16 tie with Manchester City in March 2018. What’s more Elyounoussi scored, helping Basel stun Pep Guardiola with a famous 2-1 away win while enhancing his own reputation in the process.
Is Elyounoussi finally on his way to Arsenal?
“A club that is usually in the Premier League top four has followed me for a long time,” admitted the Morocco-born Norwegian, a teammate of Martin Odegaard at international level.
“I just learned they have stepped up their interest even more after what happened in the Champions League.”
Elyounoussi was reluctant to mention Arsenal by name but a “club that is usually in the top four” – and therefore presumably dropped out of it recently – certainly sounds like Arsenal.
“Is it Arsenal? I can’t comment but it is a club everybody knows with a long history,” the winger added.
“(It’s) a big club that has watched me a couple of times before but they have now increased their interest in me. It is cool that such a big club is showing great interest.”
Just because Elyounoussi has found the going tough at Southampton doesn’t mean he’s destined to fail at Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta’s possession-based approach would suit him more than Ralph Hasenhuttl’s high pressing and it’s not hard to imagine Elyounoussi, who shone in an inverted left-wing role at Celtic, forming an understanding with the overlapping Kieran Tierney.
What’s more, he has reached double figures in six different seasons for four different clubs.
An Arsenal side that has scored only five times in ten league games would certainly benefit from adding another goal threat to its ranks.
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