Arsenal are believed to closing in on an agreement with Fiorentina to sign Dusan Vlahovic from Fiorentina, with personal terms the next obstacle in the deal.
The Gunners striker-search has become increasingly important in recent months, with the contracts of both Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah closing in on their final months, while former main man Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has not only lost form, but has become an outcast at the Emirates, stripped of his captaincy and exiled from the first-team for the last month, and has since departed for the AFCON with question marks over his head.
While the need for a new striker has been on the cards for some time regardless, the issue has now been made much more urgent, and the club appear to have made their decision to make Vlahovic their main target as they look to agree a monster fee with La Viola for his signature, a man valued at 70 Million euros according to Transfermarkt.
While FourFourTwo claims that their bid is set to be accepted by the Serie A club, they pour water on a potential deal this month, with the demands of the player and his representatives seemingly on the excessive side.
It would be interesting if the club would still pursue such a deal despite the demands, having worked hard to reduce their wage budgets in recent transfer windows, but it would most definitely mark a statement of intent as we look to close in on the top four, and look to make a permanent return to the Champions League places before hopefully challenging for the Premier League title at some point in the near future.
The club has proven that they are not shy of spending the money to back Arteta in recent windows, while the Spaniard has also worked on offloading some of the deadwood, as well as increasing the values of a number of players including academy products who will no doubt be assets to the club via their sale or input for the first-team.
I personally think Vlahovic is the complete package, and one who will not only thrive in the Premier League but thrive in our flourish young attack, and I would love to see the club make this happen.
Patrick