Mikel Arteta has not let go of Kenan Yildiz. Arsenal have placed the Juventus winger at the top of their January shortlist, according to reporting in the Daily Mirror picked up this week by Sky Sports, with the 21-year-old Turkey international rated alongside Bournemouth forward Eli Junior Kroupi as the priority additions to Arteta’s attack.
The pursuit is anything but new. Arsenal lodged an enquiry in the summer and were sent away, with Juventus insisting Yildiz was not for sale. Luciano Spalletti, appointed as Juventus head coach in late October after Igor Tudor’s sacking, has since doubled down.
“They can offer whatever they like, I want Yildiz here and will always put him on the field,” the new Juventus head coach told Football Italia, when asked about Arsenal’s reported €100m valuation. He added that the player’s future “is already important staying at Juventus, not because there are other clubs who want to spend €100m for him.”
Yildiz is still in a cast
The complicating detail for Arsenal is that Yildiz has not kicked a ball in anger since the opening weekend of the Serie A season. A fractured fifth metatarsal in his left foot, picked up in the 1-0 win at Frosinone on 23 August, has kept him sidelined ever since.
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Juventus confirmed shortly afterwards that he had undergone surgery at the Hessingpark clinic in Augsburg, performed by Dr. Martin Jordan with club doctor Marco Freschi present. The initial timeline of two months slipped to closer to three, with a return targeted for late November.
That means Arsenal are effectively lining up a January bid for a player who will, at best, have played only a handful of matches in the three months before the window opens.
Why Juventus may yet listen
What has shifted since the summer is the Serie A table. Juventus went into November sitting seventh, well off the Champions League places after 10 rounds, and Italian reporting cited by Football Transfers suggests the club may be forced to raise funds through sales if they miss out on European qualification.
The Mirror’s reporting puts Yildiz’s valuation at around €100m (£83.4m), and credits The Athletic for the detail that Arsenal’s summer enquiry was rebuffed with the “not for sale” line. His career numbers at Juventus stand at 27 goals and 21 assists in 132 games, built up before his 21st birthday in May.
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For Arteta, the calculation is straightforward: the forward line is in flux, Kroupi offers a cheaper option, and Yildiz is the name he keeps coming back to.
Yildiz himself is targeted to return to Juventus training towards the end of November, around a month before the Serie A winter window opens on 2 January.
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