According to a report from Italy, Arsenal are the biggest threat to Inter Milan in the chase for 19-year-old Ukranian goalkeeper, Andriy Lunin.

The rumour

Arsenal will look to bring in a new keeper this summer with Petr Cech ageing rapidly and David Ospina still not able to find a cure for the brickitis that afflicts his hands.

A number of keepers have been linked with a move to north London, many of whom come with massive release clauses far in excess of anything Arsene Wenger would feel comfortable paying for a player who isn’t an attacking midfielder.

Lunin, however, is a new name on the list and according to Friday’s Gazetta dello Sport, the teenager is wanted by Inter Milan to replace the 33-year-old Samir Handanovic in the near future.

Lunin currently plays for Zorya Luhansk after moving there last summer from Dnipro for an unknown amount.

His contract runs until the end of next season so he should not be all that expensive for any club interested in purchasing the keeper who received his first cap for Ukraine during the most recent international break. A very ‘Arsenal-friendly price’ of €6m has been mentioned.

Juventus are also believed to be interested in the young keeper, but Gazetta write that although the Old Lady want him, it is Arsenal’s interest that is the most ‘dangerous’ to Inter.

Inter are believed to have laid out their plan for Lunin, including a route to the first team and they seem to believe that no other big team in Europe would offer him an equivalent track in such a short timeframe, clearly ignoring the situation at Arsenal were he could be thrust into the first team within one or two seasons if he performed adequately.

A native of Krasnograd, Lunin played for Metalist Kharkiv before moving to Dnipro where he made his way through the youth ranks.

Financial problems forced them to sell and Lunin sealed a move to Zorya. He was 17-and-a-half when he made his debut for Dnipro.

He has 29 appearances for his new team this season, keeping 10 cleansheets and conceding 41 goals.

Arsenal will need to find a new goalkeeper this summer, so who are the options to replace Petr Čech?

After his penalty save against Watford, Čech is temporarily back in the fans’ good books. Still, that doesn’t change the fact he currently leads Europe’s top 5 leagues for errors directly leading to goals.

Whether you like the 35-year-old or not, reports suggest that goalkeeper is one of four positions Sven Mislintat wants to strengthen this summer, as we covered here.

Here are seven options for the new head of recruitment to try and bring in this summer:

Ter Stegen

• Current club: FC Barcelona
• Age: 25
• Contract until: 2022
• Estimated value: £36m

The Spanish media linked Arsenal to Ter Stegen late last year, claiming the club made an approach for the Barcelona shot stopper. He’s one of the top performing goalkeepers around at the moment, making more than five saves for every goal he concedes.

With him in goal, Barcelona have an even better defensive record than Atletico Madrid in La Liga, which is quite some achievement in the Diego Simeone era.

The German is also becoming a regular in his country’s national side. He’s started eight of their last 10 matches despite strong competition.

Unfortunately, the catch is that Ter Stegen’s good performances make Barcelona unlikely to want to let him go. He reportedly has a £158m release clause, but I can’t imagine Arsenal paying that much for a goalkeeper.

If he does decide he wants a move to the Premier League though, he would make a great buy.

2017/18 stats

• Clean sheets: 23 in 38 matches (one every 1.65 matches)
• Saves per goal (La Liga): 5.15
• Errors leading to goals: 0
• Distribution accuracy: 83%

Jan Oblak

• Current club: Atletico Madrid
• Age: 25
• Contract until: 2021
• Estimated value: £63m

According to the Catalan newspaper Sport, Raul Sanllehi is trying to bring Oblak to the Emirates. The Slovenian goalkeeper has tons of experience at the top level, and is very highly rated.

As a result, it could be difficult to lure him away from his current club, particularly if they qualify for the Champions League and Arsenal don’t.

His statistics are slightly unbalanced by the fact that Atletico are so good defensively.

They base their game around solidity at the back, making it much more difficult for opponents to get good quality opportunities to test Oblak.

Nonetheless, as you can see from the stats, the 25-year-old doesn’t disappoint when called upon.

2017/18 stats

• Clean sheets: 22 in 36 matches (one every 1.64 matches)
• Saves per goal (La Liga): 4.93
• Errors leading to goals: 0
• Distribution accuracy: 54%

Bernd Leno

• Current club: Bayer Leverkusen
• Age: 26
• Contract until: 2020
• Estimated value: £14m

In recent days Leno has become the latest goalkeeper to be touted as Čech’s replacement.

The German travelled with his country to win the Confederations Cup this summer, although he only appeared once.

One of his biggest strengths is his distribution, something Arsenal goalkeepers have had a lot of trouble with lately.

For example, in the League Cup final David Ospina couldn’t even find a teammate with half of his passes. Meanwhile Bravo completed over two-thirds of his, and Manchester City saw the benefits of that.

Right now Arsenal’s keepers aren’t saving or distributing well enough, so they’re costing the team twice over.

2017/18 stats

• Clean sheets: 10 in 31 matches (one every 3.10 matches)
• Saves per goal (Bundesliga): 1.20
• Errors leading to goals: 2
• Distribution accuracy: 70%

Alisson

• Current club: AS Roma
• Age: 25
• Contract until: 2021
• Estimated value: £14.4m

Recently the media have linked Alisson with Liverpool, but it’s definitely a deal Arsenal should think about hijacking.

He apparently refused a new deal to try and force a move this summer, and is in great form in Italy.

The proposed extension included a buy-out clause of £71m, so it’s lucky he rejected it.

He’s even caught the eye of Real Madrid scouts with his impressive displays, particularly in Europe.

He kept clean sheets against Atletico Madrid and Chelsea in the Champions League group stages.

Most recently he performed very well in the knockout rounds against Shakhtar Donetsk, helping his side to progress to the quarter-finals.

Arsenal missed their chance to bring Wojciech Szczesny back from Roma last year, perhaps they can sign Alisson from the Italians instead.

2017/18 stats

• Clean sheets: 17 in 37 matches (one every 2.18 matches)
• Saves per goal (Premier League): 3.83
• Errors leading to goals: 0
• Distribution accuracy: 83%

Jack Butland

• Current club: Stoke City
• Age: 24
• Contract until: 2021
• Estimated value: £16.2m

Jack Butland is constantly linked with a move to the Emirates, even though his performances haven’t been so impressive this season.

The England international has struggled with Stoke recently, although that’s largely the fault of his teammates.

The side sit 19th in the league, so it’s probably unfair to judge him too harshly on this campaign.

Then again, the own goal he scored recently didn’t do him any favours.

Nonetheless, he’s an experienced Premier League goalkeeper, and no one else in the competition can boast more saves this season than him.

2017/18 stats

• Clean sheets: 5 in 29 matches (one every 5.80 matches)
• Saves per goal (Premier League): 1.82
• Errors leading to goals: 1
• Distribution accuracy: 51%

Gianluigi Donnarumma

• Current club: AC Milan
• Age: 19
• Contract until: 2021
• Estimated value: £36m

Although transfermarkt.co.uk gives Donnarumma’s value as £36m, in reality he’d probably cost as much as almost any goalkeeper in Europe.

The goalkeeper only turned 19 in February, and already has 114 appearances for Milan.

He has also made his debut for the Italian national team, and once Buffon retires he’ll likely hold down the number one spot for years to come.

If Arsenal signed Donnarumma they probably wouldn’t need a new goalkeeper for more than a decade.

Unfortunately everyone knows that, so there would be massive competition for his signature, and a bidding war that Milan would probably drag on as long as they could.

Nonetheless, for such a promising talent, it would be worth a shot.

He’s not without his faults though, as you’d expect from a 19-year-old.

This season he’s made more errors leading to goals than anyone on this list, including one against Arsenal, spilling Granit Xhaka’s shot into his own net.

2017/18 stats

• Clean sheets: 19 in 42 matches (one every 2.21 matches)
• Saves per goal (Premier League): 1.90
• Errors leading to goals: 3
• Distribution accuracy: 77%

Timo Horn

• Current club: FC Koln
• Age: 24
• Contract until: 2022
• Estimated value: £10.8m

Horn is a self-confessed Arsenal fan, and in January the media linked him with a move to the club.

He is well-regarded in Germany, and represented his country at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Like Butland, Horn has the disadvantage of playing for a club performing very poorly.

Koln are bottom of the Bundesliga, eight points from safety, so he’s unlikely to keep many clean sheets.

Of course, that didn’t stop him keeping Wenger’s side out when they visited Germany.

Koln’s misfortune could be good news for Arsenal though, as Horn would reportedly be available for £5.4m if the German side go down.

Definitely a budget option.

2017/18 stats

• Clean sheets: 7 in 36 matches (one every 5.14 matches)
• Saves per goal (Premier League): 1.51
• Errors leading to goals: 2
• Distribution accuracy: 56%