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According to The Daily Mail, Chelsea have some late competition as they look to sign QPR forward Loic Remy to replace Fernando Torres. The Mail are reporting that Arsenal are in for the France international, and there are rumors circulating that they, too, have met Remy's inexpensive buyout.
BREAKING: Arsenal join Chelsea in the race for QPR striker Loic Remy. More to follow... #afc #cfc
— MailOnline Sport (@MailSport) August 30, 2014
Frankly, this sounds like agents at work looking to get the QPR player more money. If it came down to Arsenal and Chelsea going head to head for a player, Chelsea are going to win the battle 99 times out of 100. They traditionally pay larger wages, and have put together more competitive squads for most of the past decade. The only thing Arsenal could likely offer here that Chelsea can't is a regular starting role, as the player might be superior to Olivier Giroud anyway, but with the Frenchman sidelined for several months, there's little chance he wouldn't play a ton.
With that in mind, Remy once chose to join an awful QPR side instead of a competitive, exciting Newcastle squad before seeing his new club relegated. The player is clearly motivated by money, and there's little reason to believe he'd take a smaller wage package at Arsenal in order to face less competition.
In some ways, seeing Arsene Wenger target the player would be awfully good news. Watching him lose a target and have to scramble on deadline day would certainly take him out of his comfort zone, and we've all seen the way the bulk of his backup plans have worked in the past decade. Wenger is fantastic given time to scout and sign an under the radar player, he's one of the worst in the business when running out of time, and often fails to land anyone at all. Trolling Arsenal? Sign me up.
Anyway, there may or may not be any truth to this rumor, but I'd be shocked if it was anything to worry about. If Chelsea really want Loic Remy, they're going to get him whether Arsenal are involved or not.