The insane £29m transfer coup for Euro 2024 star that Arsenal must make happen this summer

To watch Fabian Ruiz over the course of Euro 2024 was to bear witness to a player who you might have been forgiven for believing is one of the true grand maestros of continental football. The Spaniard dictated the tempo of midfield contests with metronomic ease, teleported between spaces that were barely fit for human occupation, and chipped in in the final third to great effect, registering two goals and two assists as his nation marched their way to a record fourth European Championship title.

And yet, on a domestic level, the reality is somewhat different. Ruiz started just 14 Ligue 1 matches for Paris Saint-Germain last season, making the same amount of appearances from the bench, and has struggled to assert himself as an established fixture in the French giants’ first team plans since signing from Napoli in 2022.

Perhaps, then, a change of scene is required, and to that end, Football Transfers report that Arsenal could be willing to offer one to the supremely-gifted 28-year-old. According to the online outlet, the Gunners have initiated discussions over a potential summer swoop for Ruiz, and may look to lure him to the Premier League in the coming weeks.

The understanding is that Mikel Arteta is a big admirer of his compatriot, but any simmering pursuit may hinge on whether or not Arsenal can free up space in their dressing room by offloading a midfield talent or two before pressing ahead with their apparent interest. Albert Sambi Lokonga has already joined La Liga outfit Sevilla on loan this summer, while Emile Smith Rowe is rapidly closing in on a move to Fulham, and Thomas Partey has entered the final year of his contract at the Emirates.

In other words, there are reasons to believe that Arteta and co. can find room for Ruiz, and given the exemplary level of his output at Euro 2024, you suspect that they would be well-advised to do so. Renowned journalist Duncan Castles perhaps summed the player’s impact up best when he told The Transfers Podcast: "For someone a Premier League club are looking at, he won more balls than anyone else at the tournament and won twice as many in the final third of the pitch as any other player. So you've got that pressing ability, which is fundamental to the way Arteta plays. He passes the ball accurately, beats opponents one on one. In many ways, he looks like an obvious fit to that Arsenal system.”

One thing that is not expressly mentioned in Football Transfers’ report is a price tag for Ruiz, but given that PSG paid around £18.5 million for him a couple of years ago, and given the seeming ambivalence towards the midfielder in the French capital, it is not unreasonable to expect that he would be available for a relatively modest sum. Online database Transfermarkt values him at around £29.5 million, but in truth, his current employers may not even demand that much.

Regardless, taking everything into account - his obvious pedigree, his lack of concrete prospects in Paris, his suitability for Arteta’s preferred style of play - this feels like a deal that the Gunners should really be looking into with some seriousness. If they can wrap it up, Ruiz’s arrival may be one of the coups of the summer.