Arsenal & Chelsea monitoring transfer target with €80m buy-out clause at AFCON

Arsenal and Chelsea are reportedly both monitoring Sporting Lisbon defender Ousmane Diomande at this winter’s AFCON tournament.

Both London giants have been keeping tabs on Diomande for some time, and that’s expected to continue as he represents the Ivory Coast national team at AFCON this year.

That’s according to a report from Portuguese outlet Record, as cited and translated by Sport Witness, which adds that Diomande has a release clause worth €80million in his current contract with Sporting.

It seems clear that Diomande has a big future in the game, with the 20-year-old still having plenty of time to get even better than he is now, especially if he picks his next club carefully.

While Diomande should see plenty of playing time at Chelsea as they’ve focused on recruiting young players like this, it remains to be seen if that would really be the best move for him right now as the Blues are not the force they were under the ownership of Roman Abramovich.

Arsenal, on the other hand, have made real strides under Mikel Arteta and could be a good long-term project for Diomande to commit to, even if he might initially struggle for playing time ahead of the rock-solid defensive duo of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.