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Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

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Former Arsenal scout Gilles Grimandi made it clear that Arsenal should not sign reported target Layvin Kurzawa

Mathew Nash
Mathew Nash

Arsenal have reportedl𓆏y made an offer for PSG defender Layvin Kurzawa. , the Gunners and Napoli have presented ‘intere꧑sting offers’ to the 27-year-old’s entourage with Barcelona also keen on hiไs signature.

Kurzawa is a free agent at the end of the season and, amid the current global health crisis, will, therefore, be a high-profile target for several top clu🥀bs. 

However, one former Arsenal 🔯man is clearly of the belief that the Gunners should ☂not be making a move for the player.

Gilles Grimandi was one of Arsenal’s chief scouts from 2006 until March 2019, when he left to become Pౠatrick Vieira’s technical director at Nice. The Frenchman also played for the Gunners, making over 100 appearances in a five-year spell. 

PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 10: Layvin Kurzawa looks on during a training session at Ooredoo Center on March 10, 2020 in Paris, France. Paris Saint-Germain will face Borussia Dortmund in their UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match on March 11, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty Images)

A trusted confidantꦓ of former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger it was in 2ꦡ014 that Grimandi was scouting tꦗhe then-Monaco defender ahead of a potential £15 million move. 

But no deal ever came about and Grimandi seem♛ed to paint a picture of why in January. 

Grimandi made🃏 it clear that he felt Kurzawa was not suited to Arsenal’s current project. 

“No (I wouldn’t have signed Kurzawa). I watched him at Monaco, I think that he is a boy who has quality, a boy who certainly has the potential to be one of the best in his position, but sadly he is lacking in certain areas.

“I don’t see him improving, I don’t see him as a boy who has the hunger to attain the highest level. For Arsenal, he does not have the profile that matches the club’s project.

“There are youngsters who are coming up, he is already a certain age. I don’t see the point in Arsenal getting Kurzawa.”

With the likes of Bukayo Saka and Kieran Tierney already at the club, it is easy to see why G𝓀rimandi might feel Arsenal are better off backing the youth already at the club in the left-back slot. 

Considering some of the players Grimandi has spotted in the p🤡ast and his rich history at The Emirates, that’s an opinion worth listening to.