Arsenal and Chelsea scouts witness MASTERCLASS from No.9 target
Tom Weber
- 25 Sept 2023 22:11 BST
- 4 min read
Scouts from Chelsea and Arsenal watched on as Santiago Gimenez stole the show at the weekend, according to a report.
The Mexican striker has been in red-hot form for Feyenoord in 2023 and he continued his impressive run in the Eredivisie's biggest derby, De Klassiker, against crisis club Ajax.
Indeed, precisely because Ajax are in crisis right now, this game became one for the history books - for all the wrong reasons. Gimenez put on a clinic, scoring twice and assisting the third goal in a 3-0 demolition that ultimately led to the game being abandoned because of crowd unrest.
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Even well after the game had ended, Ajax fans continued to vandalise the Johan Cruyff Arena and the club's sporting director Sven Mislintat - formerly of Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal - has since been sacked. But on the pitch, it was Gimenez who caught the eye.
The 22-year-old striker has scored 19 goals in 25 games in the Dutch top flight this calendar year and some of the Premier League's biggest hitters have, unsurprisingly, taken note of his exploits.
Trio of giants
In fact, according to 90min, scouts from Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham were in attendance to witness Gimenez's performance against Ajax. The report also mentions interest from Benfica, Dortmund, Inter, Juventus and Napoli.
Chelsea are still looking for a striker to fix their scoring woes given that Nicolas Jackson has struggled to come to grips with life in the Premier League, while much-improved Tottenham could still use a proper replacement for Harry Kane.
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The above-mentioned report also states that scouts were keen on seeing Calvin Stengs, Lutsharel Geertruida and Igor Paixao in the flesh. 23-year-old Paixao has two goals and two assists in five outings so far this season.
Geertruida, meanwhile, had been heavily linked with a move to RB Leipzig in the summer, while Stengs recently returned to the Eredivisie after stints in France and Belgium.
