A report from Fichajes is claiming that Arsenal are now leading the race to sign Brighton and Hove Albion’s Kaoru Mitoma.
Manchester United and Manchester City are both said to be interested in signing the winger as the pair have been keeping tabs on him for some time. However, it looks like the Gunners have stolen a march ahead of the two Manchester clubs.
Kaoru Mitoma returned to Brighton in 2022 from his loan spell from Union St.Gilloise and last season, he had scored 10 goals in 41 appearances for the club. This time around, the 26-year-old has seven goal contributions in 17 Premier League matches.
Last campaign, Mitoma caught the attention of all the major clubs with his pace and his dribbling skills so it’s hardly a surprise that three of the biggest English clubs want to sign the Japanese international.
As far as Arsenal are concerned, Gabriel Martinelli is the lone left-sided attacker right now so it’s very straightforward why Mikel Arteta is eager to add Kaoru Mitoma to his squad.
However, Man United and Man City have some quality players in that area of the pitch so it makes little sense why they will want to spend a fortune on the 26-year-old. Brighton have grown to become one of the best negotiators in the transfer market and since Mitoma still has three years left on his contract, the Seagulls won’t allow him to leave for anything less than €100 million.
Neither United nor City will be keen to spend so much on the left-winger and would much rather rely on what they have. For MUFC, players Ten Hag has stars like Rashford and Garnacho who play out on the left while Guardiola has Jack Grealish and he’s just brought in Jermey Doku.
We think the two Manchester clubs won’t make any major moves towards signing Kaoru Mitoma so Arsenal might be running a one-horse race by the end of this season.
The Gunners have spent more €100 million on Declan Rice but it will be interesting to see if the management will agree to pay a similar fee for the Brighton winger. Rice has turned out to be a success but if Arsenal spend €90-100 million on Mitoma next summer, they won’t be able to sign any other players and that’s something that Mikel Arteta won’t be too eager to do.
