Six months ago, on Sky Sports punditry duty, Thierry Henry explained why, as France Under-21 coach, he had tried to call Eli Junior Kroupi up when the forward was still a teenager.
“When I see a player with that raw talent and that determination, I don’t care about his age,” Henry told Sky Sports in May.
Six months on, that verdict is being pulled back into circulation around a reported Arsenal pursuit.
Arsenal “big admirers”, according to Football Insider
Mikel Arteta’s side sit top of the Premier League after Kai Havertz’s winner at Anfield on Sunday, and the leaders are being linked again with a January move for Kroupi.
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Journalist Pete O’Rourke has told Football Insider that Arsenal are “big admirers” of the forward and ready to accelerate their interest with Paris Saint-Germain also pushing hard, calling it “a pretty open race for his services,” as relayed by TeamTalk.
Nothing has been confirmed by Arsenal, Bournemouth or the player.
A 13-goal debut season, then injury
Kroupi joined Bournemouth from Lorient and scored 13 Premier League goals in his debut 2025/26 season. A pre-season foot injury, a fractured metatarsal suffered in July, then kept him out for roughly three months.
He eased back into action over the past fortnight with brief outings against Manchester United in the league and Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup, before a 22-minute cameo off the bench against Leeds United on 31 October in which he set up Amine Adli for Bournemouth’s second in a 2-0 win.
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Football Insider reported in September that Bournemouth had demanded over £80m in the summer and expected a similar figure in January. Later reporting has pushed the suggested price closer to £100m.
Bournemouth’s position
Marco Rose, who took over at the Cherries this season, has limited his public comments on Kroupi to the player’s return to fitness, saying in October that the striker was back in team training and could feature on the trip to Manchester.
The club’s broader message, according to recent reports, has been that no January offer will be entertained whatever Arsenal pay.
Tottenham, Manchester United and Barcelona have also been linked to Kroupi at various points in 2026 by multiple outlets, with PSG the most consistently named rival.
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The January transfer window opens on 1 January 2027.
