Ryan Fraser, the 25-year-old Scottish winger has been linked with a move from Bournemouth to Arsenal this summer. The transfer rumours were considered just speculations until just recently when new information surfaced. We even saw Fraser breaking his silence and addressed the claims about his move to English heavyweights Arsenal.
BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – APRIL 13: Ryan Fraser of Bournemouth during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and AFC Bournemouth at American Express Community Stadium on April 13, 2019 in Brighton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)
The Bournemouth winger, Ryan Fraser has been one of Bournemouth standout performers in the Premier League. With 32 appearances for The Cherries this season, he scored 6 times and added 10 assists, which makes him the 2nd best scorer in the team and a player with the most assists in the squad. With 10 assists so far, Fraser is also the ranked 3rd in assists in the whole EPL. With his impressive results and his overall performance this season, he was quickly noticed by Unai Emery, who has expressed the admiration of his work rate and his ability to play in numerous attacking positions.
After a rather disappointing loan of Denis Suarez from Barcelona, Arsenal are not too keen to make Suarez stay at Emirates Stadium permanent, and will rather look for an alternative to strengthen their squad. With the desire to improve Arsenal squad during summer, Emery looked over a few players that would fit his squad. At first, the main target to replace Suarez was Christopher Nkunku, however, it was reported he is on the verge of joining Rennes, which makes him unreachable for Arsenal. Despite that, Emery does not need to look far to find the right replacement for Suarez. The answer to his “problems” is Ryan Fraser, the Bournemouth player, who Emery got a chance to see play in person on several occasions.
Ryan Fraser contract with Bournemouth runs until 2020, but with no reported talks of an extension, the possibility of the Scottish winger ending up in Arsenal seem rather high. When asked about Ryan Fraser, the Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe stated the following:
“We have spoken to Ryan and his representatives about his contract. It is one where we will see what happens.”
“There is no doubting Ryan’s quality and how highly we think of him. He is an outstanding talent but it is a two-way prospect to sign a contract, so let’s wait and see.”
“Ryan has contributed to the team this season but it’s not the time to talk about speculation. Who knows what happens this summer? It is that time of year when things change and even we will be looking to sign new players.”
BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – APRIL 13: Ryan Fraser of Bournemouth celebrates after he scores a goal to make it 2-0 during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and AFC Bournemouth at American Express Community Stadium on April 13, 2019 in Brighton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)
From his statements, we can see Howe is well aware that the skills of his player brought a lot of attention from other clubs, who will most likely steal him from Bournemouth when the summer comes. While Howe had a lot to say about his player, Fraser kept his statement rather short and sweet.
In an interview with Sky Sports about the speculations of him moving to Arsenal Fraser said:
“I’m not going to lie, it’s nice, it means you are doing something right”
“They are a huge club, a massive club”
Although there were only a few words spoken about the topic, it was enough to realize Fraser would not mind moving to a bigger club, which could easily be the career-changing move for him. Would he end up moving, Arsenal would need to open their wallets and most likely pay well over his market value of £16.20m. And while this move is nowhere near being official, there are enough reasons for us to believe Fraser will wear the Arsenal badge on his shirt by the end of the summer.
