Arsenal line up season-long loan for Milan teen sensation El Shaarawy

The agent of promising young AC Milan attacking midfielder Stephan El Shaarawy has revealed that Arsenal are interested in his services.

Milan would be loathe to let the 19-year-old leave permanently, but it is understood they are prepared to let him leave on a season-long loan.

El Shaarawy joined Milan only last summer in a £10million co-ownership deal from Genoa, but he has struggled to hold down a regular first-team place, despite appearing against Arsenal in the Champions League last 16.

His agent Roberto La Florio told Metro: ‘Arsenal have always admired him - even before he transferred to Milan, but the Rossoneri have already agreed to his ownership, and I do not know if they’ll let him go.’

And El Shaarawy spoke of his admiration for the English game only last month.

‘I really like the English game. Many people always tell me that I have the characteristics to play in the Premier League,’ he said.

‘Honestly, I like it a lot, both in terms of environment and football.’

El Shaarawy, who is contracted at Milan until 2016, has scored two goals in 18 appearances this season.

Seen the link pop up several times in the last couple of months, last time on Gazzetta dello Sport's website a few weeks ago, but I haven't bothered to start a thread because it seems very, very unlikely. It would be similar to Arsenal selling Oxlade-Chamberlain. Who knows though? The fact that he's still partly owned by Genoa provides some unusual circumstances. With Cassano scheduled for a comeback soon the competition will be incredibly tough at Milan. They might cash in if they receive a big offer. Especially if they plan to spend big on ready-made players this summer.

The kid is the real deal anyhow. From what I can tell he's one of the biggest attacking talents who's emerged in Europe for a long time. He's so bloody fast and skillful it's unreal. I'm sure Wenger is a big fan. It's his kind of player.

Come think of it, we probably have a bigger chance of signing Pato in the summer if Wenger is still interested. He hasn't had many opportunities this season and with the emergence of El Shaarawy and the return of Cassano he'll feature even less during the next one.

Klaus wrote:

Come think of it, we probably have a bigger chance of signing Pato in the summer if Wenger is still interested. He hasn't had many opportunities this season and with the emergence of El Shaarawy and the return of Cassano he'll feature even less during the next one.

Pato is ridiculously injury prone. El Shaarawy on loan is a bit of an insult to club of Arsenal's stature.

El Shaarawy from what i read has completed a full move to milan. Overall they paid 25m euros for him. This is a non-story and won't happen as a loan or permanent deal IMO.

Would rather take pato tbh, great player who could bolster our attack and would most likely get a good amount of goals.

Shaarawy has the coolest hair in football. We need him to make up for Song, Sagna, Arteta and Chamakh.

Gunner89 wrote:

El Shaarawy from what i read has completed a full move to milan. Overall they paid 25m euros for him.

Is the deal done yet, though? I haven't heard anything about it. All I know is that Milan paid £10 million for 50% of his license.

YounGunner wrote:

Pato is ridiculously injury prone. El Shaarawy on loan is a bit of an insult to club of Arsenal's stature.

I'm not saying we should sign Pato.

I'd assume a potential loan of El Shaarawy would include the option to buy Milan's stake in him for a predetermined sum. Can't imagine we would take him on loan and develop him for them for free.

Humble Rex wrote:

Shaarawy has the coolest hair in football. We need him to make up for Song, Sagna, Arteta and Chamakh.

He's got nothing on Jenko

Doc wrote:
Humble Rex wrote:

Shaarawy has the coolest hair in football. We need him to make up for Song, Sagna, Arteta and Chamakh.

He's got nothing on Jenko

Oo don't know, Shaarawy's look more extreme, more edgy 🙂

Jenko's looks a little like he might have shaved away himself 🙂

Cheap Neymar knock offs. He's better than Messi, don't you know.

Well the hair is anyway 🙂
Messi must have one of the nerdiest dos in football.

The kid's obviously a big fan of Jurassic Park III.

Captain wrote:

Cheap Neymar knock offs. He's better than Messi, don't you know.

He is as much better than Messi as his hair is cooler than El Shaarawy´s. 🙂

As I said - coolest hair in football. Probably ever.

You're only saying that because you've never seen a football game from 65 million BC.