Arsenal are no longer in the race to sign Manuel Locatelli from Sassuolo according to Fabrizio Romano.
The 23 year-old was believed to have been the subject of two bids from the North London side, but Locatelli made his intentions clear that he favoured a move to Juventus, and seemingly knocked back the idea of going anywhere else.
The Neroverdi and Juve are yet to come to an agreement over his signature however, but despite this, we are believed to have moved onto other targets.
Fabrizio Romano has now confirmed that we are no longer ‘pushing’ to sign the Euro 2020 star, and cannot see us signing him this summer.
“I am also told that at the moment Arsenal are not pushing,” Fabrizio told the Don Robbie YouTube channel.
“They know that the player wants to go to Juventus and they are focusing on other things. So, that’s why I don’t see Locatelli joining Arsenal this summer.”
Granit Xhaka was previously linked with the exit door, but he now looks set to sign a new deal with the club, which means we aren’t light in that area of the pitch, with Mo Elneny, Thomas Partey, Joe Willock and Albert Sambi Lokonga in contention for the upcoming campaign, although an injury to the Ghanaian was far from ideal ahead of the start of the campaign.
It could well give us an early insight into Lokonga however, especially if Mikel Arteta opts to trust him enough to start him against Brentford next week, and I get the feeling he could well be in line to start our Premier League opening fixture.
Could Xhaka’s new deal end our interest in Locatelli? If the Juventus move falls through could Arsenal return with another attempt to sign him from Sassuolo?
Patrick