Arsenal transfer update: Sunzu confusion, Gonalons linked

There is an interesting story in Here Is The City about the fate of the brilliantly named Stoppila Sunzu. If you remember rightly the Zambian defender Sunzu was apparently all lined up to be Arsenal’s first signing of the window with the association in his own country reporting that a move to North London was imminent.

And then it went odd, very odd. The player seemed destined for Reading and then Sunderland were reported to be interested and then nothing.

HITC asks the question what is going on with the player and puts the blame for the lack of activity squarely at the feet of the player’s team.

It says

The confusion stems around his agents and representatives who appear to have not been doing a very good job of representing their client’s best interests. They had reportedly informed the Zambia international, and any interested suitors, that his contract at current club TP Mazembe was invalid therefore he was eligible to leave on a free transfer.

In fact the DR Congo club, one of the richest football establishments in African football, are requesting a fee of £4 million as his contract is more than legally binding, a fact confirmed by Mazembe’s club president Moise Katumbi in an interview with the BBC last week:

“The matter has been resolved after we went through the contract with everyone and the player admitted his contract was still valid. The problem is that his handlers have been lying to him so that he rebels against us. We suspect they wanted to get all his transfer fees by declaring him a free agent. TP Mazembe is a professional club and we will never stand in the way of our players as long as the right procedure is followed.”

The club are apparently keen to cash in on one of their prize assets and £4 million would be enough to land the player. But it seems that for now at least he is going nowhere.

The Metro has an update on a player who is alleged to be one of Arsene Wenger’s long term targets.

Lyon midfielder Maxime Gonalons has apparently been tracked by Arsenal’s Mr French Football Gilles Grimandi for several months now and has put in a string of impressive performances. He’s a defensively minded midfielder who has only ever played for Lyon. The Metro reckons he will cost the Gunners around £12 million. Arsenal are reported to be tracking several midfielders including Etienne Capoue of Toulouse and Newcastle’s Chieck Tiote.

How would you spend Arsenal’s cash? Check here.