Denis Suarez has reportedly agreed to join Arsenal after Unai Emery convinced him to come to London according to Sport in Spain.
“The decision is made,” writes the Spanish publication. “Denis Suárez will only leave FC Barcelona in the winter market if negotiations with Arsenal crystallize.”
They go on to say that the approval of the player was ‘essential’ to get the talks moving forward, which is no great surprise. There’s no point having talks about somewhere he has no desire to go.
Barcelona would ideally like a cash transfer but Arsenal’s don’t have the money they used to so the Catalans are open to a loan with a compulsory purchase option
Meanwhile, Tuesday’s Mundo Deportivo writes that this week is ‘decisive’ for Suarez’s future. He’s ‘expected to seal his exit to Arsenal on loan’, as the Spanish outlet claim Arsenal aren’t in a position to pay a transfer fee now. As a result, they also claim that Barcelona want to include a compulsory purchase option in the loan deal to be activated at the end of the season.
Tuesday’s edition of AS reports a similar story. They reveal that Suarez has a contract with Barcelona until 2020 and a release clause of €50m. However, the Catalan club are only asking for €20m to complete a sale.
Nonetheless, it seems Arsenal can’t spare the funds right now to pay upfront, so AS also suggest a loan with a compulsory purchase option is the most likely outcome.
For now, the player is continuing to train normally with the team, at the orders of manager Ernesto Valverde.
Barcelona took Suarez with them for their trip to Getafe over the weekend, but they ended up withdrawing him from the squad for unspecified reasons.
It could just be that he was the 19th man, and wasn’t required on that occasion. However, rumours suggest Barcelona have to pay Manchester City €800,000 the next time Suarez makes an appearance for them, due to a clause in his contract.
As a result, Barcelona would presumably prefer to be sure Suarez is staying before paying more for him. If he’s going to leave in the next few weeks, then one game isn’t worth €800,000.