Balde signed for Monaco for €30m back in 2017 from Lazio, but the move didn’t work out and he was loaned back to Serie A with Inter Milan the next season.
Despite scoring five goals for Inter, they opted not to activate their option to sign Balde for €34m, and so he has returned to Monaco. However, French paper Le10 claim a move is still likely.
With uncertainty surrounding the futures of Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Arsenal have been linked with a number of attacking players this summer.
However, after failing to qualify for the Champions League, their transfer budget is said to only be in the region of £45m. With defence the priority, most of this looks to be earmarked for moves for Kieran Tierney and William Saliba.
As reported by David Ornstein today, Wilfried Zaha was a real target for Arsenal, but it’s unlikely they’ll be able to match Crystal Palace’s £80m asking price. Balde would be a far cheaper alternative.
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