Arsenal are reportedly weighing up other options as Atletico Madrid refuse to budge on their asking price for Thomas Partey with another name – Danilo Pereira – becoming the latest name be listed as an ‘alternative’.
On Tuesday, it was reported that the club were moving their attentions to Roma’s 23-year-old defensive midfielder, Amadou Diawara.
Partey has a €50m release clause which the Gunners do not want to pay in full. Atletico do not want to reduce their price. Arsenal have offered them Matteo Guendouzi in part-exchange. The Spaniards said ‘no thank you’.
Now, were back to Pereira, according to Mundo Deportivo.
Arsenal have been linked with Pereira for a while now so it’s hard to know how much truth there is to this rumour. Is it just another name being recycled, a way of Arsenal trying to make Atletico believe they are moving on, or something else entirely?
The media linked Danilo Pereira with a move to Arsenal last month, and the midfielder certainly didn’t do anything to play down the speculation at that time.
Speaking to Stats Perform News earlier in July, the 28-year-old had a lot of praise for Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta. He also suggested he’d like to play in the Premier League and would fit in with the Gunners.
“I think he [Arteta] is doing a really, really, good job there,” Pereira said. “He is a really good coach who started as the second coach at [Manchester] City. So he has a little experience and Arsenal play very good football, and I think he is doing very well there.
“The style I think I can fit there, the way he plays also thinking on the ball, the team always has to be together – I think it is a good way to play.
“Of course, I like to be here in Porto, to be here in my country. But I want to be in a better league like the Premier League. I always dreamed about playing in that league…I think it’s the best league in the world.”
The initial reports for this iteration of the Pereira-to-Arsenal rumour from England suggested Porto could sell for as little as €20m. ESPN claimed that, despite Pereira’s €60m release clause, Porto were suffering financially and could cash in for a lot less. That’s a common problem for them.
The player’s contract only runs until 2022 and that is seemingly lowering his price as well.
Portuguese outlet Jornal de Noticias quickly hit back at this rumour at the time, however.
They claimed they couldn’t verify the €20m figure and added that Porto had already turned down €30m for him last summer.