Transfer news and rumours today: Arsenal sign Dutch youngster, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returns to old club
Sports Mole rounds up the latest transfer news and rumours today, as Arsenal sign a 17-year-old Dutch protege and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang agrees to return to a former club.
Arsenal have added to their academy ranks with the signing of 17-year-old Dutch playmaker Demiane Agustien from Derby County.
The 2007-born playmaker spent two years at Pride Park from 2023 to 2025, having previously represented West Bromwich Albion at youth level.
Agustien shone in the 2024-25 Under-18 Premier League, coming up with five goals and nine assists in 20 matches, while also playing seven times in the Premier League 2 for the Under-21s.
The 17-year-old’s exploits caught the eye of the Gunners, who have tied him to a professional contract following his arrival from Derby, although he will be expected to continue his development in Per Mertesacker’s academy system first.
“I’m just very pleased, obviously playing for a big club. Can’t wait to get started and play for Arsenal,” Agustien told arsenal.com. “I’ll just look to make a statement on why I think I’m good enough to be playing for Arsenal and really prove myself and eventually, hopefully, I can make some appearances with the first team hopefully or to be on a bench as well and gain experience.”
Agustien is the son of former Swansea City man Kemy Agustien, who featured for the Swans against Arsenal in the Premier League back in 2011.
From Arsenal present to Arsenal past, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has supposedly agreed to return to a former club, but it is not the Gunners.
The 36-year-old has been a free agent since his contract with Al-Qadsiah was terminated earlier this month, but he was not short of proposals to continue his career elsewhere.
Al-Ettifaq reportedly wanted to keep Aubameyang in Saudi Arabia, but according to journalist Santi Aouna, the Gabon international is instead heading back to Marseille.
A two-year deal has supposedly been struck between Aubameyang and Les Olympiens, and the striker’s move ought to go through in the coming days.
Aubameyang returns to the Orange Velodrome following his one-year spell at Marseille during the 2023-24 season, where he excelled with a terrific 30 goals and 11 assists in 51 games in all tournaments.
The 36-year-old bagged an unrivalled 10 goals in the 2023-24 Europa League and also struck 21 times in 36 games during his short-lived stint at Al-Qadsiah.
At the other end of the field, Sunderland and Bournemouth are supposedly locked in a battle to sign Lille centre-back Bafode Diakite this summer.
The 24-year-old has blossomed in Ligue 1 over the past few years and has already played 112 times for Lille since joining from Toulouse in the summer of 2022.
Diakite cost Lille a mere £2.6m in 2022, and he has proven himself to be a threat in both boxes, scoring nine goals across the past two French top-flight seasons.
According to The Mirror, Sunderland and Bournemouth are going head-to-head for the centre-back, although both clubs have already seen offers rejected by the 2020-21 Ligue 1 champions.
Lille are supposedly after around €40m (£34.7m) to let Diakite leave, and the player himself would be open to a departure from Les Dogues, who have him under contract for another three years.
Bournemouth have lost Dean Huijsen to Real Madrid and are at risk of having Ilya Zabarnyi poached by either Tottenham Hotspur or Paris Saint-Germain, but the report adds that the Cherries may now explore other options.
Giovanni Reyna holds ‘very positive’ talks with Serie A side
Elsewhere in Europe, Borussia Dortmund playmaker Giovanni Reyna is said to have held ‘very positive’ talks over a move to Serie A outfit Parma in the summer transfer window.
The 22-year-old has failed to live up to his potential in Germany, and he only made one substitute appearance during Dortmund’s recent Club World Cup campaign, coming off the bench against Ulsan HD in the group stage.
Reyna was otherwise left to watch on from the bench as BVB reached the quarter-finals, and with his contract up next summer, an exit in the current window is seen as inevitable.
According to journalist Florian Plettenberg, Parma have a ‘good chance’ of signing the USA international following constructive talks with Dortmund, who would be happy to sell for between €6m (£5.2m) and €7m (£6.1m).
Reyna is said to be looking for a new challenge at this stage of his career, having previously endured an underwhelming loan spell at Nottingham Forest during the second half of the 2023-24 season.
Reyna’s prospective move to Parma would see him work under Carlos Cuesta, the 29-year-old former Arsenal assistant who took over as head coach from Christian Chivu last month.