Arsenal close in on Brazilian transfer target Bernard

Over the last few days, Arsenal have been linked with a move for newly found Brazilian youngster Bernard, who plays his trade in his homeland of Brazil with Atletico Mineiro. Until recently, Bernard wasn’t really known by many in Europe, but his excellent performances at this summer’s Confederations Cup, earnt him many plaudits and ultimately he has gathered interest across Europe.

After it was reported in Brazil that Arsenal had agreed a ￡21m fee for the 20 year old, I was shocked. Why on earth are we spending so much on a basically unknown talent, but struggling to offer enough money for the likes of Higuain and Fellaini? Wenger has always been a funny figure when it comes to dealing with transfers and if it turns out that we do sign Bernard for such a high price, then we really must start to question the club’s mentality when it comes to transfer values.

But anyway the rumours have persisted and after winning the Copa Libertadores on Wednesday night, both Bernard and his agent had some interesting things to say.

Bernard said, “I have said a thousand times that I want to stay, but it doesn’t depend on me now. If I could, I would stay here the rest of my life.”

Now many of you will think, why isn’t it down to him, well like with many South American players they are often forced to leave for Europe because of 3rd party ownerships. The same was recently seen with Falcao, and perhaps even more distinctive, moves that saw both Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano come to the Premier League.

He may well want to stay with Atletico Mineiro for the near future, or even in the long term, but it’s pretty much guaranteed that if any offer comes in, the young Brazilian will have little say about his potentially new team.
Bernard’s agent also continued to fuel the speculation by tweeting; “Congratulations, Bernard. Double-winner! Confederations Cup, Libertadores . . . the perfect farewell.”

It will be interesting to see if this latest Brazilian prodigy makes his way to Arsenal, and although I recognise talent in him, as you can probably tell, I wouldn’t be overly happy about the price we have to pay.