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.
- Former Gunner joins Everton in deadline-day moveEverton completed the signing of former Arsenal player Ainsley Maitland-Niles on deadline day, with the 29-year-old signing a three-year contract.
- Is Gabriel Martinelli still joining Al-Hilal from Arsenal?Gabriel Martinelli’s transfer from Arsenal to Al Hilal still hasn’t been confirmed after Tuesday’s Premier League deadline day, so is the move still going ahead?
- Ex-Arsenal 26yo to complete post-deadline-day transfer to FeyenoordReiss Nelson has completed a free transfer move to Feyenoord after departing Arsenal via a mutual contract termination, according to a report.
- Failed Everton transfer has implications for Arsenal & ChelseaFolarin Balogun’s transfer to Everton fell apart late on deadline day, denying Arsenal a sell-on fee and seemingly causing significant problems for Chelsea in the process.
- What happened with Arsenal target Malick Fofana?Malick Fofana ended up joining Sunderland on transfer deadline day, after a whirlwind 24 hours during which he looked set to join three different clubs.