Is He Really That Good?

Arsenal are reportedly front-runners in the chase to sign Czech Republic midfield man Jakub Jankto from Udinese after hopefully beating competition from other Serie A sides AC Milan and Juventus. The 21 year old star has been termed as the next Pavel Nedved in terms of his passing ability and flair on the ball which is the reason why there is so much hype and demand over the youngster. Jankto joined Udinese for a fee of €700,000 from Czech club SK Slavia Prague in 2014.

Jankto has spent two seasons at Udinese since joining them in 2014 and spending his youth career for a year before moving to the senior squad in 2015, but the club’s board decided to loan out the grooming teenager at the time to Serie B side Ascoli without him making a single appearance for Udinese.

After a few months, Jankto finally made his career league debut against Virtus Entella in September 2015 and became a regular for Ascoli making 34 appearances scoring five goals in an impressive first season for his career. He then returned to Udinese and had another impressive season with the Italian club in the Serie A this time which caught the eye of a few clubs in Europe.

Arsenal were one of the first clubs who looked to sign the sensation in the summer, mainly due to the fact that Arsene Wenger loves midfielders and is currently lacking and young quality in those ranks and Jankto was linked with a move to North London. However, a move broke down and Jankto continued playing his football in Italy. In 13 appearances this season, he has already made quite a vast improvement scoring two goals and notching up 2 assists which has reignited the interest Wenger had in him.

Arsenal fans, however, may be in a bittersweet position considering the fact that they may have to lose another quality player in the form of Mesut Ozil who was quite brilliant last night against Huddersfield Town. His involvement in three goals allowed Arsenal to cruise to the full-time whistle, which wasn’t the case when the German play-maker was not in the regular starting eleven.

Ozil’s contract expires at the end of next summer and if the club does not sell him in the coming winter transfer window, they will lose him for free during the summer and so is the case for Alexis Sanchez. Jankto could be a direct possible replacement for Ozil despite the former Real Madrid man’s high standards.

Jankto is still relatively young and a move to the Emirates stadium under Arsene Wenger could be the most promising move as the French manager has a reputation for nurturing young talents. Currently, Jankto is valued at £6m but it would be quite clear that Udinese would demand more for a rising star.

Editor’s View- Get It Done In January

The Gunners should try to add this star to their current squad as soon as possible and hopefully Wenger can try to push for him in January. Honestly, I do not wish to see Ozil at the moment in the second half of the season, if he does not renew his contract and it is best that he is sold and a decent amount of money is made from the deal.