The abysmal budget differences between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Nice, its opponent in the playoff stage of the Conference League, were not significant last Thursday in Bloomfield, when the yellows of Vladan Ivic beat the French 0:1 in the first match between the teams. But if anyone had any doubts about the differences between the team from the French Riviera and the one from Kiryat Shalom, one can only look at the list of players who are mentioned as realistic candidates to join Lucian Fabre’s team.
According to a report in the French “Foot Market”, the coach of the Yellows’ opponent, who already added Aron Ramsey and Kasper Schmeichel this summer, asked for reinforcement from the club’s leaders after the loss in Bloomfield on Thursday to bring in a purchase before the closing of the transfer window, and a number of very interesting names are on the agenda.
One of them is that of Barcelona midfielder Miralem Pjanic. Although Barca coach Xavi has announced that he wants the relationship to continue, the Catalan club still needs to reduce the salaries paid and it is not at all certain that the Bosnian will actually stay. An official offer has not been submitted, but it seems that Nice’s interest is real and that an offer is expected to arrive in the coming days. According to the report, Pjanic himself does not rule out coming to the Riviera, understanding that in Catalonia he will not get the minutes he expects, but the salary issue could be a problem since he earns 6.5 million euros per season.
Pjanic’s name is not the only one that came up in the report in “Foot Mercato” and that of Marcelo, the left back of Real Madrid until last summer, is also on the list of players who arouse interest in Nice. Alongside him are a number of other prominent names such as that of Edinson Cavani, with whom the team is already conducting negotiations, as well as Islam Slimani and Ben Brereton and Manchester United midfielder Amad Diallo.
The reports about Pjanic, Marcelo, Cavani and the others join the reports already from the middle of the week in the French and English media according to which Arsenal striker Nicolas Pepe may come to the Riviera. Tonight (between Friday and Saturday) there were reports that the striker’s loan deal is nearing completion and Pepe, who did not get minutes in the Gunners’ first two games of the season, is on the verge of a move to rival Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta Last night he referred to the Frenchman, the most expensive player in Arsenal’s history who was purchased from Lyon for 80 million euros in 2019, and answered diplomatically: “We said we have a large squad, we made some decisions and allowed some players to leave. Until the end of the window, anything can happen with any player”, but now it is claimed that the talks between the parties are progressing well and there is a belief in both teams that an agreement can be reached quickly, with Arsenal intending to end the matter quickly in order to bring in a player in his place.
In any case, the good news for Maccabi Tel Aviv is that even if one of these great players joins this week, the registration for the playoffs of the Conference League has already been completed so that none of them will be able to play in the return match against the Yellows, in France on Thursday.