Could Arsenal be about to take advantage of another club’s misfortune?

Italian football has been rocked over the last few months with news of the financial trouble that Parma find themselves in.

Bankruptcy has been declared but there are reports that the Italian football federation have stepped in and given the club enough money to survive until the end of the season.

Unless something spectacular happens then though, Parma Football Club will be no more and similar to what happened at Rangers the players contracts will become void.

Stories have already started to do the rounds linking Parma players with potential new clubs and Arsenal are said to be circling around their eighteen-year-old, highly rated young Italian midfielder Jose Mauri who would be available on a free transfer.

What isn’t particularly clear however is the situation at Parma, with some reports stating that club have been given a winding-up-order, meaning that their game with Torino this weekend will be their last and other reports confirming the influx of cash from the Italian Football Federation that would allow them to play on until the end of the season.

Whilst it might not seem like this would make much difference to Arsenal, clubs are still allowed to bring in players on free transfers outside of transfer windows, meaning that Arsenal could potentially bring in Mauri before the end of the season.

Mauri might only get a little game time, but arriving before the transfer window opens again would crucially give him some extra time in training with his new team mates.

As you can probably imagine though, Arsenal aren’t the only club keeping an eye on him, with his agent reporting last week that over thirty clubs had been in contact about Mauri.

Jose Mauri has made 22 appearances for Parma this season scoring one goal.