by Lewis Ambrose
It is being reported that Arsenal have made a bid of just over £5.5M for Juventus striker Fernando Llorente.
The Italian champions have signed forwards Paulo Dybala and Mario Mandžukić to join Alvaro Morata this summer and Llorente is surplus to requirements. He has been linked with moves to Real Madrid, Manchester United and Tottenham but is yet to seal a move.
“It’s Arsenal who’ve been in contact – not United,” a source though to be Llorente’s agent or someone close to him allegedly told the Sun.
“They have made an inquiry but there is no bid yet. But it is clear they are interested and it is also clear that Juventus are ready to listen.”
Now Tuttosport are reporting that a bid of around £8.5M would be enough to clinch a deal, but Arsenal have no gone that far just yet.
Arsenal have offered 8m€ to Juventus for Llorente
— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) July 27, 2015
Trustworthy
None of these sources are particularly reliable and the bid wouldn’t make any sense for Arsenal. Olivier Giroud is a far better all-round player and the Gunners have plenty of other options up front with Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sánchez all available to Arsène Wenger, who has also confirmed that Chuba Akpom will remain with the squad this season.
Arsenal don’t badly need a striker and there is no point in signing anyone who isn’t a huge upgrade on what we already have. Karim Benzema or Robert Lewandowski would be but are unlikely to be available.
Unless something changes Arsenal won’t be signing a striker in this transfer window.