Gueye entourage confirm contract offer from Arsenal | OneFootball

The entourage of Le Havre midfielder Pape Gueye claim Arsenal made a big salary offer to the player, but he wants to stay in France.

Speaking to Le Phoceen, the entourage of Pape Gueye explained his current situation, including an offer from Arsenal.

As a brief recap, Gueye was out of contract with Le Havre this summer, and he started negotiating with potential new clubs. His agent got him to sign a pre-contract agreement with Watford, which Gueye clearly didn’t realise made the move final.

Watford announced the transfer, at which point the 21-year-old tried to pull out. The Premier League club now want the player to pay a ‘break fee’ to leave his deal, as his entourage explained (via GFFN):

“Pape will not go to Watford. A contract was signed in January, but it has not yet taken effect and nobody can force that. Aside from that, Watford can ask for a break fee, but they cannot force Pape to play for them.

“This clause was fixed by the club at €5m, but this is far from reality today because the value of players has halved with the health crisis…The club that wants to sign him will have to negotiate this clause down with Watford.”

The French media previously linked Gueye with a move to Arsenal, and his entourage confirmed they had an offer from the Gunners. However, he wants to remain in France for another two or three years before going overseas.

“Marseille is one of the clubs that is most interested in Pape, that’s clear,” they said. “There is also Metz, Strasbourg, Angers, Nantes, German, Portuguese and Spanish clubs. Arsenal also contacted us with a salary three times better.

“But Pape wants to play in Ligue 1 for two or three years before going abroad, and Marseille is clearly on his shortlist.”