AS Roma want to sign Henrikh Mkhitaryan permanently, though they aren’t in contact with Arsenal over a deal just yet, according to a report.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Gianluca Di Marzio claimed AS Roma are keen on signing Mkhitaryan for the future. At the moment, however, they aren’t in contact with Arsenal over price or to make a deal.

Both head coach Paulo Fonseca and sporting director Gianluca Petrachi are keen on the player. In the coming days, we can expect them to approach Mino Raiola and Mkhitaryan to figure out if the two share Roma’s enthusiasm for a permanent transfer.

Overall, the Italian journalist thinks Roma will do what they can to sign the player permanently. It’s just whether that’s enough, particularly given the financial restrictions this summer.

It’s a bit of a strange situation at the moment. Most clubs don’t have cash to spare, so you’d think that would reduce player prices. But if anything, clubs like Arsenal will be even keener to get their money’s worth for someone like Mkhitaryan.

Personally, I’m predicting this will lead to quite a few transfer standoffs. Nobody will want to overpay, yet there’ll be a similar and opposing desire not to lose players cheaply.

Arsenal would probably even prefer to keep Mkhitaryan amid the current uncertainty, rather than lose him for a lower price in a window where they’ll struggle to replace him. So it’s tricky.