The evening before the FA Cup clash against Manchester United passed without the usual matchday jitters.
No press conference buzz.
No public training noise.
No teasing headlines about lineups or tactical shifts.
But then—at exactly 8:04 p.m.—the storm broke.
It came quietly at first.
A push notification.
A headline ticker on a slow sports channel.
A flicker on the club's official site.
"ARSENAL REJECTS REAL MADRID'S WORLD RECORD BID FOR IZAN AND RENEWS CONTRACT IN THE SAME WEEK: IZAN EXTENDS UNTIL 2030, WITH TWO-YEAR OPTION."
By the time morning rolled in, it was everywhere.
£500 million potential value. Messi-level structure. First of its kind in England and the first of its kind to be given to a player so young.
Twitter broke into two camps.
Rival fans and neutrals poured in fast:
"£1.7 million a week for a teenager?"
"This is going to ruin wage structures for everyone else."
"He'll lose focus. Mark my words. This kind of deal never ends well."
