Report: Arsenal increasingly tempted by ‘exceptional’ 23-year-old, prepared to offer £18m

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Arsenal are reportedly growing increasingly tempted to make a move for Milan midfielder Franck Kessie, according to Milan News.

Teamtalk reported earlier this month that the Gunners were interested in the 23-year-old, along with fellow Premier League sides Wolverhampton Wanderers and Newcastle United.

Kessie moved to the San Siro in 2017 from Atalanta and has established himself as a regular for the Rossoneri.

This season, the box-to-box midfielder has started 21 of Milan’s 26 Serie A games, and has been one of their brighter players amid continued poor form which has left them seventh in the league.

Although agent George Atangana appeared to pour cold water on any exit talk in April, as reported by Metro, Milan News then suggested that the Rossoneri may sell players who haven’t “fully convinced”, with Kessie as an example.

The Italian outlet now claims the Gunners are growing “ever more tempted to try making a move” but adds that “the Londoners won’t be offering more than 20million Euro (around £18million)”.

Teamtalk reported earlier in May that “even before football was suspended, there was a suggestion that the Italian giants would be willing to do business for a fee in the region of £25million.”

TBR View:

Kessie is a player of the highest calibre, a tenacious, skilled, strong and defensively solid central midfielder with a superb engine and an eye for goal.

Despite Kessie’s seemingly uncertain position at Milan, he has been earning plaudits for a while now – former Rossoneri boss Vincenzo Montella described him to Goal.com in September 2017 as “an extraordinary player, a sublime intelligence”.

Gennaro Gattuso – another former Milan boss and also a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006 – is quoted by Forza Italian Football as saying in January 2018: “Kessie is clearly stronger than me when I was a player, he has seven or eight goals per season in him.”

Would £18million be enough to convince Milan to sell? Given Wolves and a post-takeover Newcastle could likely bid much more, any bidding war could see the Gunners fall short and miss out on their man.