John Stones will leave Manchester City next month, claims The Sun, and the news has alerted both Arsenal and Liverpool.
The England defender, who last started a Premier League match in January, has fallen out of favour with Pep Guardiola. He is now fourth choice at the Etihad and unlikely to see much game time in the foreseeable future.
Consequently, says the Sun, he’ll be allowed to leave in the summer and Arsenal are the team in pole position to sign the 23-year-old centre-back. They’ll face competition from Liverpool – Jurgen Klopp is an admirer of Stones – but with Arsenal’s new manager certain to overhaul the notoriously fragile Gunners defence, it’s expected they’ll see the City blocker as a good buy.
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Arsenal fans are “excited” claims the Daily Mirror and not just because they’ll soon be saying adieu to Arsene Wenger. There’s also the small matter of a “transfer hint” dropped by RB Leipzig winger Emil Forsberg on social media.
The Sweden international has been linked to a number of clubs after impressing for the German outfit this season. But in recent weeks the 26-year-old wide man has been mooted as an Arsenal summer acquisition. The gossip among Gooners has only strengthened following a terse tweet from Forsberg in which he said simply: “Thanks for everything”.
That’s being interpreted by the Mirror, and thousands of Arsenal fans, as cast-iron proof that the silky Swede is leaving Leipzig at the end of the season.
The news isn’t so good in Metro, however, for Arsenal supporters who hope their club might have turned a corner. Why? Because the paper reports that Shkodran Mustafi has pledged his allegiance to the Gunners and fancies another sloppy stint in north London.
The German international defender has endured what Metro correctly calls “a difficult season” with the Gunners. There was talk last week that he would be offloaded in the summer and Inter Milan is believed to have made enquiries.
But in an interview with the German outlet Kicker, Mustafi appeared to dash the hopes of the Arsenal faithful that he would be taking his dodgy defensive displays elsewhere next season. “I’m thankful to play for a club like this,” he said. “I want to play where I’m happy and I am happy here... my season has been a bit like Arsenal’s – peaks and troughs. Recently I’ve been performing [well].”
