Tottenham and Arsenal are battling for the next Thierry Henry
Tottenham and Arsenal both want to sign Kylian Mbappe
Everyone knows that Tottenham and Arsenal are bitter rivals on the pitch, but the two London clubs are set to do battle in the transfer market as well. Both clubs are expected to make bold summer moves in an effort to sign Monaco starlet Kylian Mbappe.
When Arsene Wenger compares a young French striker to Thierry Henry, you know he’s got a ton of talent. The Arsenal boss sees differences between Henry and Mbappe in terms of style of play, but not in terms of potential. That’s heavy praise for the Monaco forward.
His excellent play for Monaco in Ligue 1 this season has certainly garnered the attention of big clubs all over Europe. Not surprisingly, it seems that the race will boil down to two Premier League clubs. This time it isn’t a battle between Manchester United and Manchester City, instead it is going to be a battle between Tottenham and Arsenal.
Both clubs avoided big spending in the January transfer market. As such, both Wenger and Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino should have money to spend in the summer. Arsenal should only be limited by Wenger’s frugal philosophy while Spurs will look for bargains as they pay for their new stadium.
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Mbappe is unlikely to come cheap for either club. Expect Monaco to try to hold on to their prodigious young talent. He’s currently under contract in France through 2019, but they’d like to keep him for the long haul. They will need to pay up if they want to keep him past this summer.
Assuming they aren’t able to re-sign him, they should look to spark a bidding war between the North London rivals. It’s not inconceivable to think that he could fetch a transfer fee of somewhere around £40 million. That isn’t a modest sum, but it’s well within the market rate for a striker of his age and experience.
After all, we’re talking about an 18-year-old who has scored seven goals and provided five assists for his club in league play this season. He usually doesn’t start as the club’s primary striker, but he’s been a big reason for their success. It’s easy to imagine him supplanting Falcao as the club’s striker in the next season or two.
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It’s highly unlikely that he will stay in Monaco long enough to see that become a reality. Instead, look for him to play a big part in next season’s North London Derby. The only question is which side of the heated rivalry he’ll be on.