Premier League side Arsenal are about to face some stiff competition in the pursuit of Celtic FC’s 22-year-old defender Kristoffer Ajer – as per reports.
Ajer joined the Hoops in 2016 and during the 2019-20 season, the defender has played in 28 league matches for the Premiership side, scoring three goals.
And as per a report in Football Insider, Arsenal are not the only major club who are interested in signing the centre-back in the summer.
The report claims: “The giant Norwegian defender is attracting strong interest from Leicester City, while AC Milan are also keen on him.
“A source with knowledge of Ajer‘s situation has told Football Insider that the Celtic board have made up their minds to let him go at the right price.”
Will Kristoffer Ajer snub a move to Arsenal?
While Arsenal remain an influential candidate in signing the defender but there are a couple of reasons why the player is not likely to join the Gunners.
The first reason is the fact that Celtic want around £20 million as transfer fee which is not going to be a major problem for the Foxes as they have money left from the sale of Harry Maguire.
The same report says: “Celtic are ready to sell Kristoffer Ajer this summer if their £20million asking price is met, Football Insider understands.
“£20million despite the financial uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic and what are expected to be tumbling transfer prices this summer.”
The second big reason why Kristoffer Ajer might snub a move to Arsenal is that the Gunners currently have a flurry of central defenders in their first-team squad while a few additions are still to be made.
So we do not think the 22-year-old will be too keen to move to the Emirates and fight for his place in the first XI next season.
Thirdly, as things stand right now, Leicester City will be able to guarantee Champions League football and given a chance, we are pretty sure that a youngster like Kristoffer Ajer will want to ply in trade in the top tier of European football.
