Legend says £35m Manchester United target will ‘go to Arsenal’ instead

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Former Feyenoord hero Johan Boskamp believes Orkun Kokcu will join Premier League giants Arsenal this summer despite interest from Manchester United and Aston Villa. 

This may be Granit Xhaka’s finest season as a Gunners player but could it also be his last? According to the Daily Mail, Arsenal are ready to listen to offers for the long-serving Switzerland international – alongside Kieran Tierney and Folarin Balogun – during the summer transfer window. 

And reports linking Xhaka with a move away – at a time in which Declan Rice is reportedly on the radar at the Emirates Stadium – are surely no coincidence. The West Ham skipper is likely to set Arsenal back a colossal sum. And the London giants are not going to part with a fee in excess of £70 million without guaranteeing Rice a starting role. 

Kokcu, valued at around £35 million, could be a cut-price alternative if Arsenal decide that Rice is simply too expensive. Like Xhaka, the Dutch-born Turk is a midfielder who loves to grab the game by the scruff of the neck, driving his team forward with piercing passes into the final third. 

Will Feyenoord captain Orkun Kokcu join Arsenal?

According to Rotterdam-based publication 1908, Manchester United and Aston Villa are two potential destinations for a man who looks set to lift the Eredivisie title as Feyenoord’s captain before the month is out. 

And Boskamp expects to see a number of star players leave in the summer; Feyenoord suffering the same fate as PSV and Ajax before them. 

“Feyenoord is playing a wonderful season,” Boskamp tells RTV Rijnmond. “But they will be robbed again. Then you have to rebuild next season.” 

Boskamp, meanwhile, believes Kokcu will be swapping one red-and-white shirt for another during the summer transfer window.

“I don’t know where (Kokcu’s) ceiling is. But what the coach (Arne Slot) has done well is making him feel important. Everything goes through Kokcu,” Boskamp adds of a man who conducts the Feyenoord orchestra.

“The way I hear it, he goes to Arsenal. They want to get a replacement for Granit Xhaka. When you hear those amounts (£35 million), I don’t think he will stay with us.”