{"id":1770,"date":"2026-04-02T17:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T17:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=1770"},"modified":"2026-04-02T17:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T17:53:16","slug":"arsenal-interested-in-signing-19-year-old-star-with-e65-million-price-tag-after-facing-him-in-champions-league-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=1770","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal interested in signing 19-year-old star with \u20ac65 million price-tag after facing him in Champions League this season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5148043\" data-slug-id=\"2761394\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Bayer Leverkusen striker Christian Kofane&#8217;s agent, Eric Depolo, has confirmed that Arsenal are interested in signing the teenager. He added that the Gunners are the front-runners in the chase this summer.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to DailyArsenal, Depolo revealed that he has been in constant talks with the Gunners. He went on to state that Mikel Arteta is a big fan of the 19-year-old, but it is too early to suggest that the transfer is done.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cYes, Arsenal\u2019s interest is genuine. The manager (Mikel Arteta) is very taken with him. I think it\u2019s still too early to say anything, but given that the player speaks Spanish, just like Mikel Arteta, and that William Saliba is originally from Cameroon, I\u2019d say they have the best chance. Yes, there is contact between me and Arsenal. But their focus is currently on winning the league \u2013 everything will fall into place from there.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Sky Germany have reported that Bayer Leverkusen want around \u20ac65 million for the striker this summer. However, Depolo believes that Kofane is the best U21 striker and is worth \u20ac100 million already. He said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;He is a player worth 100 million euros. With Kofane, they will have a top striker for the next 10 years. I\u2019ve never received as many calls about Kofane as I am now. He is currently the best striker under 21 in Europe and the most complete. He is quick, technically strong, defends excellently and is strong in the air. It is very difficult to find all these qualities in a single striker.&#8221; (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goal.com\/en-in\/news\/agent-confirms-arsenal-are-favourites-to-sign-striker-for-eur60-70-million\/bltec6b8d0771fa3b91\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">GOAL<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Kofane joined Bayer Leverkusen last summer for \u20ac5 million and has a contract until the end of the 2028\/29 season. He has scored seven goals and assisted eight times in his 39 matches for the German side.<\/p>\n<h2>Jamie Carragher urges Arsenal to sign another attacker<\/h2>\n<p>Jamie Carragher spoke about Arsenal&#8217;s attack after the Carabao Cup loss in March, saying that the Gunners need to sign an attacker this summer. He believes that they do not have enough star players to lead the attack and said on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@TheOverlap\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">The Overlap<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I don\u2019t think it will affect the league because Arsenal have got such a big gap. But my thing with Arsen\u00e0l now \u2013 and you could probably say this with every team in the Premier League \u2013 is there\u2019s not enough special players. They are the best team in the league and have an amazing record but I still look at the attack and think it\u2019s only okay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;There\u2019s no star player and sometimes you need that player when you\u2019re not playing well like they wasn\u2019t in the cup final. I don\u2019t think they have enough special players in attack.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Gunners signed Viktor Gyokeres for \u00a364 million last summer.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Sripad<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bayer Leverkusen striker Christian Kofane&#8217;s agent, Eric Depolo, has confirmed that Arsenal are interested in signing the teenager. He added that the Gunners are the front-runners in the chase this summer. Speaking to DailyArsenal, Depolo revealed that he has been in constant talks with the Gunners. He went on to state that Mikel Arteta is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1770","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\/1770","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=1770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}