Arsenal are reportedly considering a bid for Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana, but any move will depend on the verdict of his appeal against a UEFA doping ban.
Onana was banned from all football activities for 12 months in February after failing a drugs test, but Ajax claim their number one accidentally took his wife’s prescription medication.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will hear Onana’s appeal in June and are expected to give their verdict later that month.
According to Goal, Arsenal have been tracking Onana for over a year and made contact with the 25-year-old’s representatives last January.
The Cameroon international, who started out with compatriot Samuel Eto’o’s academy before spending time in Barcelona’s renowned La Masia youth set-up, signed for Ajax in the summer of 2015, initially turning out for Jong Ajax, the reserve side, in the Dutch second tier.
He made his first team debut in 2016 and has gone on to rack up almost 200 appearances for the four-time European champions, helping them to the semi-finals of the Champions League two seasons ago, when they lost out to Tottenham in the most dramatic of circumstances.
Borussia Dortmund are also said to be keeping tabs on Onana, whose ban meant he wasn’t even allowed to join in with Ajax’s recent Eredivisie title celebrations.
Onana’s contract expires at the end of next season and Arsenal are thought to be confident of getting a deal done for less than £10 million, should circumstances allow.
Speaking about his future last month, incumbent Gunners number one Bernd Leno said that, while he is happy at the Emirates, he would be “open to everything”.
It has been a campaign to forget for Mikel Arteta’s side, with Thursday night’s Europa League semi-final exit to Villareal leaving them highly likely to miss out on European football for the first time since 1995/96.
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