Arsenal have opened negotiations with Wolves over the signing of Ruben Neves according to reports in Portugal now picked up in the UK.

A number of reports in the Portuguese papers on Saturday morning claimed that Arsenal have already begun negotiations with Wolves over the signing of 24-year-old midfielder Ruben Neves. On Wednesday morning, the Daily Mail reported the same.

They claim that Wolves’ asking price of £35m could be problematic for Arsenal but that the player’s agent, Jorges Mendes, is in constant touch with Edu. The Mail also admit they get their information from The S*n. In their usual manner, The S*n have declared their piece an EXCLUSIVE even though it says little more than the reports from Portugal which I covered at the weekend. Perhaps I should have called that an EXCLUSIVE too!

Reports of Arsenal’s interest in Neves have been going around for over a month now, but there hasn’t been much progress. The last we heard from a decent source was The Telegraph claiming Arsenal were poised to make their opening offer.

However, these latest reports follow on from a new update on Friday, with Di Marzio reporting that AS Roma already have an agreement with Granit Xhaka to join the club, but they’re unlikely to complete a deal until Arsenal make a midfield signing. Their current plan is simply to wait for that to happen.

According to the same outlet, Ruben Neves is Arsenal’s top target to fill Xhaka’s role this summer. Manuel Locatelli was another on the shortlist, but he prefers to wait for Juventus.

The reports from Portugal state that Wolves want a big bid before they will consider selling Neves, something around £40m has been mentioned.

Wolves are reportedly eyeing up a move for Sporting Lisbon’s Palhinha as a Neves replacement.