The next fortnight is going to be huge for Arsenal in terms of potential Champions League qualification and thus a sizeable cash injection ahead of the summer transfer window.
A week on Sunday is the final day of the 2021/22 Premier League season and the Gunners will be hopeful of finishing no lower than fourth – whether this mission is completed before or after welcoming Everton to Emirates Stadium remains to be seen, as the battle could be decided as early as Thursday.
On that same weekend, it’s looking extremely likely that another fixture elsewhere in Europe will have major implications for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta’s transfer budget ahead of what is expected to be a busy summer for the north London outfit.
The weekend just gone saw the penultimate fixtures in the Bundesliga season take place with one of the standout results being Bayern Munich’s 2-2 draw at home to Stuttgart with Sasa Kalajdzic netting what could turn out to be an all-important equaliser for the visitors early in the second half.
In truth, Stuttgart needed to win at the Allianz Arena to boost their chances of leapfrogging Hertha Berlin to preserve their status in the top-flight of German football for another season.
Although as things stand, despite remaining in the relegation play-off place, they can still finish 15th if results go their way on the final day.
CHECK THIS OUT
Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side host Koln – who are aiming to qualify for Europe – on Saturday and know a win coupled with Hertha Berlin losing at Borussia Dortmund will be enough to avoid relegation, by virtue of having a superior goal difference as the two teams would finish level on points in this scenario.
Amid talk of joining Manchester City in the summer, Erling Haaland could very well be bidding farewell to German football and if he signs off in style by helping Dortmund beat Berlin he will play his part in moving the Gunners one step closer to a welcome cash injection.
London, Arsenal will receive a €3million windfall from Stuttgart as per the obligation to buy agreement in the loan deal taking Konstantinos Mavropanos to the Mercedes-Benz Arena last summer.
It must be noted that the option is only valid if Stuttgart avoid relegation.
Now, should they finish 16th a two-legged relegation play-off against the team that finishes third in the German second division awaits on May 19 and May 23, so there are two chances for the Gunners to receive this particular payment.
With that said, even if Stuttgart don’t stay up they will have an option to buy the Greece international, but whilst a permanent transfer is likely it would be for a fee not much more than Arsenal initially paid for him which, according to Sky Sports, was for around €2m from PAS Giannina in January 2018.