FC Barcelona are planning to rival Arsenal for the signing of Donyell Malen, according to reports in Spain.

Spanish outlet Sport report that Malen is undoubtedly close to the top of Barcelona’s list of transfer targets up front. The club are looking for a number nine to complete their side and take over from Luis Suarez in the future.

Sport write that there is also speculation of interest from England, with Arsenal apparently considering a bid for their former player. The suggestion is that they’d need to pay around €60m for the striker, with the lack of great goalscorers around pushing up the price.

Malen is certainly having the best season of his career by far, scoring so many goals by mid-October that he already has more than in any campaign with PSV or the Arsenal youth teams.

The Dutch striker has 16 goals and six assists in 18 club matches, and he’s also worked his way into his national team. He has one goal and one assist in 209 minutes (four appearances) for the senior side since his debut last month.

Arsenal already have a lot of quality up front, with senior options in Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang supported by Eddie Nketiah, Tyreece John-Jules, Folarin Balogun and Sam Greenwood from the academy.

The club’s striking options have arguably not been this strong for a long while, so whether they’d be willing to invest €60m in another centre-forward is very doubtful. Barcelona probably have a much better chance as things stand.