Arsenal transfer news
Jeremy Monga to Manchester City: City double Arsenal’s offer to snatch England’s most coveted teenage star
Jeremy Monga to Manchester City: Arsenal thought they had this wrapped up. They didn’t. In a sequence of events, Manchester City have completely hijacked the race for Leicester City’s wunderkind Jeremy Monga, securing a breathtaking £12.5m package for the 16-year-old winger.
David Ornstein broke the details over at The Athletic: City are paying £10m upfront with an extra £2.5m sitting in conditional add-ons. If those triggers land, the London-born teenager becomes the most expensive 16-year-old in Premier League history. That eclipses the £12m Arsenal coughed up for Theo Walcott two decades ago, pushing Hannibal Mejbri’s old £8.5m move down to third.
It is a proper statement of intent. talkSPORT’s Alex Crook had previously noted that Arsenal actually agreed a fee with Leicester first. Then, cold feet. The Gunners baulked at the price tag, with Ben Jacobs revealing their final, static offer stood at a modest £6.5m. City essentially looked at that figure, doubled it, and blew Mikel Arteta out of the water before the recruitment team at the Emirates could even regroup. Leicester wanted north of £10m. City didn’t haggle. They just paid it. (Via talkSPORT)
The Maresca factor
Enzo Maresca didn’t need to consult his scouting department for this one. He already knew the kid inside out from his stint managing Leicester during their Championship title run, watching the then-15-year-old completely run the show for the under-21s.
Manchester United, Leeds, and Newcastle all hovered around the player, but Maresca’s personal relationship with Monga changed the entire equation. Jacobs confirmed that the City boss drove this transfer over the line himself. Arteta withdrew his interest days before the final agreement, leaving Arsenal completely out of the picture with nowhere left to turn.
The raw numbers from Leicester’s difficult campaign, one goal and two assists in roughly 930 minutes, don’t tell the full story. Monga became the youngest goalscorer in Championship history last August, netting against Preston at just 16 years and 37 days old. Three days earlier, he became Leicester’s youngest-ever starter during a League One Cup tie against Huddersfield.
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Comfortable on either flank or operating as a traditional number 10, his tight dribbling and vision stood out even as the Foxes plummeted toward relegation. He has already captained England under-16s and stepped up to the under-19s. Leicester’s season ended in disaster, but Monga leaves the King Power Stadium with his stock at an all-time high.
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