Arsenal have seen updates on two wide forward transfer targets take place in the last 24 hours to hand Mikel Arteta a clear decision.
Alongside signing a striker, the Gunners want to bring in a new left winger, with sporting director Andrea Berta identifying and initiating talks for several options. Nico Williams, Rodrygo, Rafael Leao, Bryan Mbeumo, Ademola Lookman and Jamie Gittens are a few names linked, but three of those names are seemingly off elsewhere.
Williams has agreed to join Barcelona and while Mbeumo is entirely focused on moving to Manchester United, a full agreement has been reached for Gittens to sign for Chelsea from Borussia Dortmund.
Arteta and Berta’s search for the perfect signing in that department has therefore been narrowed down to three options. Updates on the remaining trio have been regular with Leao’s latest involving an Arsenal player. With that being said, football.london has taken a look at two big Arsenal transfer updates;
Gabriel message to Leao
In his most recent Instagram post, Leao received a clear reply from Gabriel Magalhaes. With Leao away enjoying his holiday, he said: “Brasil tem o meu coracao [red heart emoji],” which translates into English as “Brazil has my heart”.
Given Gabriel is from that South American country, it is no surprise he was keen to respond with two flame emojis.
football.london says: Gabriel and the Arsenal squad are unlikely to disapprove of Leao coming into the club. His message to the Portugal international is also seemingly proof of an existing relationship between the pair which could help matters.
The 26-year-old is a concrete option and this could be the best chance any club has of actually signing him with major changes ongoing at AC Milan – after they failed to qualify for next season’s Champions League. An example of that is Tijjani Reijnders leaving to join Manchester City.
Consistency is perhaps what’s stopping Leao from reaching that next level, but he could certainly find that under Arteta.
£179m transfer green light
Arsenal appear to have Leao, Rodrygo and Lookman as their remaining wide forward options. The latter will definitely be the cheapest, as well, as Atalanta are demanding £42.7million (€50m) while Real Madrid have set Rodrygo’s asking price at £77million (€90m).
Finally, it could take upwards of £85million (€100m) to sign Leao with the green light for one of those options, now Mbeumo, Williams and Gittens are going elsewhere, to come in very clear.
football.london says: The wide forward shortlist is decreasing by the week and, therefore, Arsenal have to be careful a repeat of last summer does not take place.
Raheem Sterling ultimately arrived on loan from Chelsea late into deadline day – with the experienced forward heading back to Stamford Bridge nine months later without scoring. The Gunners have to get this addition right, but they can take some time to assess those options.
Depending on finances and their potential impact, it’s unclear which signing will be preferred with Berta likely to continue maintaining contact with all three.
