Arsenal’s move for Cristian Pavon is back-on after supposedly receiving a £61m windfall from Alexis Sanchez’s move to Manchester United, according to reports.
Arsenal were said to be close to activating Pavon’s £27m release clause earlier this month, but it’s been quiet ever since.
The story re-emerged on Monday, with Argentinian outlet Olé carrying quotes from Pavon about his future.
The 22-year-old winger told them that he would be considering his future in light of Arsenal’s interest.
“You always give your best so that others teams notice you. I said at one point that I was going to stay, but I still don’t know anything,” Pavon said.
“I prefer to play and not focus on this game. I’ll sit down and talk with my representatives and family and see what happens.”
Olé followed up with another report a day later.
In this report (via Sport Witness), the paper says that Arsenal could make another move for the winger after receiving a £61m windfall from Sanchez’s move to United.
This immediately comes off as strange as Arsenal, as far as we know, didn’t receive any money for Sanchez. They got Henrikh Mkhitaryan in a straight swap.
It looks like something was lost in translation.
At the same time, Pavon’s representative, Fernando Hidalgo, clarified the player’s previous comments.
He said that Pavon will be available to play for Boca Juniors’ in the Copa Libertadores, which resumes in March.
“It’s all clear that Cristian is going to play the Copa Libertadores for Boca, nothing has changed from the agreements with the club from last year,” he said, as reported by El Liberal.
In that’s the case, a move to Arsenal in January is very unlikely which was confirmed by his agent on Friday morning who said:
Pavón's agent this morning: "Pavón is going to play the Libertadores for Boca. From Arsenal & other teams there is no formal offer. The window is closing & an investment as big as Pavón's transfer is more likely to be done in the European summer transfer window."
— Peter Coates (@golazoargentino) January 22, 2018