Pundit claims rumoured Arsenal transfer would be a ‘bigger statement than Jesus’

Ally McCoist thinks it would be a “bigger statement” than signing Gabriel Jesus if Arsenal managed t0 sign Ilkay Gundogan this summer.

The Gunners impressed everyone last summer when they managed to land Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko for a combined £75m from champions Manchester City in the summer.

And now there are rumours they could look to raid the Citizens again in the summer after challenging them for the Premier League title.

This time they want Germany international Gundogan with the 32-year-old out of contract at the end of the season and attracting strong interest from Barcelona.

The Athletic journalist David Ornstein claimed on Monday that Arsenal “hold a concrete interest in Gundogan and [Mikel] Arteta is driving it” as the Gunners boss sees the City star as an “ideal replacement” for Granit Xhaka, who is likely to depart to Bayer Leverkusen.

And interest from Barcelona and Arsenal has now worried Man City that they could lose Gundogan for nothing this summer with the Citizens now offering him a longer deal after he rejected an initial one-year extension.

And former Rangers striker McCoist reckons Arsenal would be getting a “big occasion player” if they manager to sign Gundogan.

McCoist told talkSPORT: “This is an interesting one. What a statement that would be.

“It would be a bigger statement than Jesus. It would be a bigger statement than Zinchenko, for me.

“You would be getting a brilliant player. The age factor doesn’t really come into it, nowadays, for 32-year-olds. They have kept themselves meticulously fit and they are great professionals. And he is certainly that.

“The only negative is that you don’t have a sell-on. But that’s balanced by the fact that you are going to get him on a free transfer.

“He is a big occasion player, that’s exactly what he is. Everybody will be after him.”

Speaking earlier this month, Man City boss Pep Guardiola described Gundogan as the “whole package” and “one of the best players” he’s ever worked with.

“I remember one season when we won the second Premier League when Fernandinho was injured for a long time and he played as holding midfielder in games like against Burnley away with the long balls, second balls and… wow… he played.

“I said I had the feeling that without him we couldn’t win the Premier League. But we’ve got Gundo and he’s so intelligent, so clever and competitive.

“Under pressure he handles it without a problem. He’s one of the best players I ever trained in my career in terms of the whole package. He’s top, top class.”

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