Arsenal have made initial contact over a potential move for Sporting CP’s Maxi Araujo, with the player reportedly catching Mikel Arteta’s eye during their recent Champions League clash.
Portuguese outlet Record report that Sporting CP’s Maxi Araujo is attracting plenty of transfer interest ahead of the summer window, including from recent opponents Arsenal.
Araujo’s display in the quarter-final tie reportedly caught the eye of Mikel Arteta, and the Gunners have since made initial contact with the left-back.
Record clarify that those conversations were only exploratory, but there appears to be at least some level of interest from Arsenal in the defender.
Araujo has an €80m (£69.3m) release clause, and Sporting are willing to negotiate for less. Yet they want at least €60m (£52m), and Arsenal might be wary of dealing with the Portuguese club after last year’s drawn out Viktor Gyokeres saga.
Even if €60m seems like a fair valuation to Arsenal, it’s still a bit of a stretch to suggest a move is actually likely this summer.
Arsenal already have one big summer transfer pending, for fellow left-back Piero Hincapie. Hincapie has spent the season on loan, rotating with Riccardo Calafiori and Myles Lewis-Skelly, but he’ll be joining for around £45m in the summer.
This is clearly not a position where Arsenal are lacking options, and there are few concrete suggestions that any of the three existing left-backs are set to leave. Lewis-Skelly is probably the most heavily-rumoured potential departure, but he’s also arguably third-choice in the position.
Araujo did put in a good performance against Arsenal in the recent quarter-final tie, but signing a player in his position just doesn’t seem like it should be a priority – particularly for a fee in the region of €60m.
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