{"id":1642,"date":"2026-04-02T10:10:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=1642"},"modified":"2026-04-02T10:10:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:10:51","slug":"arteta-likes-him-very-much-arsenal-in-pole-position-for-e100m-christian-kofane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=1642","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Arteta likes him very much&#8217; &#8211; Arsenal in &#8216;pole position&#8217; for \u20ac100m Christian Kofane"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>At A Glance:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arsenal are looking to strengthen their centre-forward department this summer.<\/li>\n<li>Bayer Leverkusen youngster Christian Kofane has emerged as a potential option.<\/li>\n<li>The 19-year-old\u2019s agent, Eric Depolo, has confirmed the Premier League\u2019s side interest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p>Despite signing Viktor Gyokeres last summer from Sporting CP, Arsenal are reportedly still in the market for another striker \u2013 and the agent of Christian Kofane has now spoken out about the situation.<\/p>\n<p>Gyokeres arrived at the Emirates Stadium to plenty of fanfare as he was expected to the final piece of the puzzle in Mikel Arteta\u2019s evolution.<\/p>\n<p>The Swede, although he\u2019s bagged a total of 16 goals since the start of the campaign, has largely struggled to adapt to the trials and tribulations of playing in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More:<\/strong> Arsenal monitor Tino Livramento as Newcastle contract uncertainty emerges<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unlikely that Arsenal\u2019s decision-makers will give up on the 27-year-old just one year after securing his services \u2013 but Bayer Leverkusen\u2019s Kofane is being eyed as a way of ramping up the pressure.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>\u20ac100m Kofane could be Arsenal\u2019s next striker, Arteta\u2019s a keen admirer<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Although adding another face to the left wing position may be priority, a new striker wouldn\u2019t go amiss for the Premier League table-toppers \u2013 and Kofane is among their prospective additions.<\/p>\n<p>He joined the German side from Spanish second-division side Albacete for \u20ac5.25 million (\u00a34.6 million) last summer.<\/p>\n<p>And his goal-getting exploits have caught the eye of many clubs around Europe, all of whom are looking to bolster their centre-forward ranks.<\/p>\n<p>In an exclusive interview with <em>Daily Arsenal<\/em>the centre-forward\u2019s agent, Eric Depolo, has <a href=\"https:\/\/daily-arsenal.com\/exclusive-arsenal-in-talks-to-sign-christian-kofane-agent-reveals-all-in-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">confirmed the Gunners\u2019 interest<\/a>insisting that Arteta is a keen admirer of the 19-year-old frontman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, Arsenal\u2019s interest is genuine,\u201d he said before adding, \u201cThe manager (Mikel Arteta) likes him very much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Depolo also added that Barcelona, Bayern Munich and a number of English sides \u2013 Chelsea, Newcastle United, Everton and Brentford \u2013 are all credited with an interest in his client.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"707\" src=\"https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/WmOBf0rvLjr8-1024x707.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-134313\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/WmOBf0rvLjr8-1024x707.webp 1024w, https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/WmOBf0rvLjr8-300x207.webp 300w, https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/WmOBf0rvLjr8-768x530.webp 768w, https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/WmOBf0rvLjr8.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>When asked if one club is leading the race, he said: \u201cI think it is too early to say, but due to the fact that the player speaks Spanish, like Mikel Arteta, and that William Saliba is originally from Cameroon, I would say Arsenal are in pole position.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There have been talks between Depolo and the Gunners he claims. \u201cYes, there is contact between me and Arsenal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut their focus right now is to win the league \u2013 from there, everything will start moving. He is a \u20ac100 million player. With Kofane, Arsenal will have a top striker for the next 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Would Christian Kofane be a shrewd addition?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Shrewd on the basis that they\u2019d be getting ahead of the curve? Sure, but Kofane is expected to cost a pretty penny if a team \u2013 Arsenal included \u2013 are able to entice him away from the BayArena at the end of the current season. <\/p>\n<p>At the time of writing, the six-cap Cameroon international has plundered seven goals and eight assists in very limited minutes. <\/p>\n<p>Of his 39 appearances across all competitions this term, only four have been a full 90 minutes \u2013 two of which were against the Gunners in the Champions League.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"\/>\n<p>Admired for his combination of pace and power, Kofane is a fantastic runner beyond the defence and could prove to be a joy to work with for the likes of Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard.<\/p>\n<p>Far from the finished article, of course, but his recent trajectory proves he\u2019s got what it takes to hustle and bustle in one of Europe\u2019s top five leagues. It\u2019s just whether he can handle the Germany-to-England jump.<\/p>\n<p>Christian Kofane is contracted to Leverkusen until the summer of 2029, hence his lofty price tag, but Arsenal\u2019s centre-forward issues could be resolved (as his agent says) for the next decade or so.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At A Glance: Arsenal are looking to strengthen their centre-forward department this summer. Bayer Leverkusen youngster Christian Kofane has emerged as a potential option. The 19-year-old\u2019s agent, Eric Depolo, has confirmed the Premier League\u2019s side interest. Despite signing Viktor Gyokeres last summer from Sporting CP, Arsenal are reportedly still in the market for another striker [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}