Rather remarkably, Arsenal seem to be in pole position to land Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic in the January window as they look to life after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.

Arsenal Vlahovic January FLORENCE, ITALY - OCTOBER 31: Dusan Vlahovic of ACF Fiorentina reacts during the Serie A match between ACF Fiorentina and Spezia Calcio at Stadio Artemio Franchi on October 31, 2021 in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)
FLORENCE, ITALY – OCTOBER 31: Dusan Vlahovic of ACF Fiorentina reacts during the Serie A match between ACF Fiorentina and Spezia Calcio at Stadio Artemio Franchi on October 31, 2021 in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)

With Fiorentina keen on landing Lucas Torreira from Arsenal on a permanent basis after the midfielder’s stellar season in Italy, the Italians are believed to be pushing Vlahovic to accept a move to Arsenal.

The Gunners, for their part, seem to be the only club with the money available to make the deal happen and David Ornstein has already confirmed that Arsenal’s interest in the player is very real indeed.

The 21-year-old, however, is still to be convinced that a move to Arsenal is best for him, hoping a bigger club comes in for him before the window shuts, so this could be one that goes to the wire.

Arsenal are reportedly putting together a £70m package in order to land Vlahovic, who has 16 Serie A goals already this season, scoring at a rate of around one every 106 minutes.

Paul Merson tells Arsenal to sign Dusan Vlahovic

Arsenal Vlahovic MA FLORENCE, ITALY - OCTOBER 31: Dusan Vlahovic of ACF Fiorentina in action during the Serie A match between ACF Fiorentina and Spezia Calcio at Stadio Artemio Franchi on October 31, 2021 in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)
FLORENCE, ITALY – OCTOBER 31: Dusan Vlahovic of ACF Fiorentina in action during the Serie A match between ACF Fiorentina and Spezia Calcio at Stadio Artemio Franchi on October 31, 2021 in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)

Former Arsenal man, Paul Merson, believes that should Arsenal sign Dusan Vlahovic then he would help make them title contenders.

“Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is finished at Arsenal. He won’t be coming back from the Africa Cup of Nations,” Merson wrote in his column for The Daily Star.

“They should be breaking the bank to get Dusan Vlahovic in from Fiorentina in the summer – because he would make them title contenders.”

Mikel Arteta on transfers in January

Arsenal Merson Vlahovic - Dusan Vlahovic of ACF Fiorentina during ACF Fiorentina vs SSC Napoli, Italian football Serie A match in Florence, Italy, May 16 2021. Copyright: LiveMedia / Francesco Scaccianoce / LiveMedia
Dusan Vlahovic of ACF Fiorentina during ACF Fiorentina vs SSC Napoli, Italian football Serie A match in Florence, Italy, May 16 2021. Copyright: LiveMedia / Francesco Scaccianoce / LiveMedia

Speaking to the media ahead of Arsenal’s FA Cup third round tie at Nottingham Forest, Mikel Arteta said, “We have a really special situation in that [striker] position because obviously you are talking about three players with different issues at the moment, but we have to live with that and so far the players that are here are fully committed.

“With Flo, we will see in the next week or so what is the final decision on that, but for the rest, there is nothing that is new and we’re going to have to live with that until the end of the season.

“You know that I can never speak about players that aren’t ours.

“There is a lot of speculation with many names and I’m not here to go through that, unfortunately.”