Arsenal storm ahead of Tottenham in race for prolific forward who wants to leave this summer
Arsenal are leading the race to sign Feyenoord striker Santiago Gimenez, despite strong interest from Tottenham, according to reports.
It’s no secret that the Gunners will be after a new number nine in the summer. While Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah have their strengths, neither of them have been particularly prolific this season.
At times, Kai Havertz has also been used as a number nine, but he’s perhaps not seen as the clinical forward that can fire Arsenal to the league title.
The bulk of Arsenal’s goals this season have come from Bukayo Saka and in order to ease the scoring burden on the 22-year-old, a new striker is required.
Over the last few months, plenty of different options have been considered by Arsenal from Ivan Toney to Joshua Zirkzee.
However, according to the latest reports, the Gunners could go after Gimenez and snatch him away from Tottenham’s grasp in the process.
According to The Sun, Arsenal are ‘leading the race’ to sign Gimenez as they look to beat their north London rivals to his signature.
Gimenez is currently leading the Golden Boot race in the Eredivisie, having scored 21 goals in 29 appearances up until this point.
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Gimenez eyeing summer move
As per Mexican outlet Record, Gimenez has already made his mind up about leaving Feyenoord at the end of the season.
His current deal is valid until 2027 which does give the Eredivisie outfit a decent amount of bargaining power when negotiating his value.
While Gimenez has enjoyed an eye-catching campaign with 30 goal contributions across all competitions, Van der Vaart is yet to be fully convinced by the 23-year-old.
“We have already discussed that Feyenoord will lose many players. Many players who are in the spotlight,” Van der Vaart told Studio Voetbal.
“I have a lot of doubts (about Gimenez). I once said that he took away my doubts when he was really good. But even after this goal (vs Heracles) I didn’t think he played very well.
“If someone offers 20 or 25 million euros, then you really have to get rid of him. If someone wants to pay a lot of money for him, do it (the deal) immediately.”