Arsenal miss out on an enticing transfer to Manchester City ‘hijack’ as Pep Guardiola strikes again.

Arsenal miss out on an enticing transfer to Manchester City ‘hijack’ as Pep Guardiola strikes again.

Manchester City are claimed to have taken prodigy Ryan McAidoo from under Arsenal’s nose, despite the Gunners being frontrunners to recruit the promising 16-year-old for months.
Arsenal fans will be furious after Manchester City snatched a wonderkid who was expected to join for the north London club.

For several months, the Gunners have been believed to be close to signing 16-year-old Ryan McAidoo from Chelsea, and they are thought to be the frontrunners for the youngster’s services. However, Fabrizio Romano has revealed that City have hijacked Arsenal’s deal for McAidoo, and he is now on his way to the Etihad Stadium rather than the Emirates.

According to the report, City have decided to sign the child to join their academy, despite the fact that numerous Premier League clubs were interested in signing him.

While first-team action for the teenager appears to be a long way off, the Gunners will miss out on the opportunity to develop McAidoo as a player and capitalise on his potential later on. McAidoo has only made four appearances for Chelsea in the U18 Premier League, but he has also represented England at the U17 level against Northern Ireland and Hungary in European Championship qualifying.

But his ball control, quickness, pin-point passing, and shooting powers have piqued the interest of Pep Guardiola, who will put McAidoo through his paces at the Etihad Campus. It’s another win for City over their Premier League opponents, who have beaten them to the title for the past two seasons in a row, while Arsenal have had to settle for second place. Mikel Arteta’s team would miss out on the title by five points in the 2022/23 season, despite appearing to be on track to win the trophy entering the final stretch.

Just three wins in their last nine games would allow Guardiola’s team to catch up and overcome Arsenal, leaving fans wondering what could have been if they had witnessed stronger performances. However, the 2023/24 season would be significantly more competitive, with City and Arsenal neck and neck until the final game.

However, the Cityzens would emerge victorious yet again. Arsenal needed to win their game against Everton to win the title for the first time in 20 years, but they also needed West Ham to defeat their Manchester rivals – and while the Gunners held up their end of the bargain, City eventually beat the Hammers 3-1 to win the Premier League by an agonising two points.

That was bad enough, but Arteta will be stinging even more as a result of Guardiola’s theft of a player who appeared to be in their grasp.

It’s also not the first time that transactions between City and Arsenal have gone wrong. Gabriel Jesus was moved to the Emirates Stadium by Arteta for £45 million in 2022, and while he appeared to be a world-beater under Guardiola, scoring 58 goals in 159 appearances, he has failed to adjust to the north London club’s style of play.

In fact, in 53 games in red and white, the striker has only 15 goals – four in the most recent campaign and 11 in his first season with Arsenal – and is no longer a guaranteed starter. The same can be said for Euro 2024 star Oleksandr Zinchenko, who had a difficult season last year and was occasionally forced out of the team.