Daily Arsenal have exclusively spoken to Eric Depolo, the agent of Bayer Leverkusen striker Christian Kofane.
The 19-year-old centre-forward has enjoyed a brilliant debut season in Germany after joining Bayer Leverkusen from Spanish second division side Albacete last summer.
In 39 appearances across all competitions, Kofane has registered seven goals and eight assists for the Bundesliga club.
His rapid development has attracted strong transfer interest ahead of the summer window, and Daily Arsenal can now reveal that Arsenal have opened talks over a potential deal.
This is what Kofane’s agent, Eric Depolo, told Daily Arsenal.
On Arsenal’s interest:
“Yes, Arsenal’s interest is genuine. The manager (Mikel Arteta) likes him very much.”
On other clubs interested:
“Chelsea, Newcastle, Everton, Brentford, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.”
On whether any club is leading the race:
“I 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.”
On talks with Arsenal:
“Yes, there is contact between me and Arsenal. But their focus right now is to win the league — from there everything will start moving.”
Arsenal bid expected
Depolo also confirmed that Arsenal are preparing to submit an official offer for Kofane this summer.
When asked about the striker’s valuation, he said:
“He is a €100 million player. With Kofane, Arsenal will have a top striker for the next 10 years.”
Given Kofane’s growing status, Depolo revealed that interest in the striker is intensifying rapidly:
“I have never had as many calls in my life as now regarding Kofane. Right now, he is the best U21 striker in Europe and the most complete one.
He has speed, technique, defends very well and is strong in the air. It is very difficult to find all these attributes in one striker.”
In addition to Arsenal, Depolo also confirmed that Barcelona are in contact regarding Kofane.
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