24-year-old Sergio Arribas has been an absolute sensation in the Spanish second division this season, and he capped his excellent form with a hat-trick against Granada.
This only solidified his status as the best player in the Spanish second division, in which he is the top scorer with 24 goals, ahead of Racing’s Andres Martin, who has scored four fewer. Arribas also added seven assists, making him the league’s most prolific player with a total of 31 contributions.
This round was almost perfect for his Almeria. With the draw with Racing, Almeria now has a two-point lead at the top of the table. With five rounds remaining in the championship, the club is in an excellent position to gain direct promotion to La Liga.
According to AS newspaper , Arribas’ impressive performances have attracted the interest of a number of European clubs for months.
Ajax see him as a key figure in their bid to return to the top, and he is also being closely monitored by Portuguese giants Sporting and Benfica. Interest is also coming from Italy and several clubs in the Premier League.
It’s no different in Spain, where almost all the major clubs have inquired about him, with the exception of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, who are not considering him due to their club policy.
The biggest obstacle to a potential transfer within Spain is the price tag. Almeria valued Arribas at around €20m last summer.
We recall that he came from Real Madrid in 2023 for 7 million euros, but the Madrid club retained 50 percent of his rights, which brought his total value to 14 million euros.
After a season like this, it is clear that this assessment is outdated. Although Almeria has not yet defined its plans for the transfer window, it is certain that the starting price of 20 million euros is no longer a realistic basis for negotiations.
