Gunners turn to Thiago Motta.
Arsene Wenger has turned his attention to Inter’s Thiago Motta after the Italian side beat them to the signing of Ricardo Alvarez, The Sun has revealed.
Arsenal had been tracking the Argentine Alvarez and Wenger saw him as the ideal replacement for Samir Nasri or Cesc Fabregas, who have both been heavily linked to a move away from the Emirates.
But the Gunners were pipped to the signing of the 23-year-old by Serie A giants Inter who tied him to a five-year deal.
The North London side have instead turned their attention to Inter’s central midfielder Motta, who has a £9.25m release clause in his contract which Arsene Wenger may have to trigger to be able to open negotiations with the player.
The former Barcelona player has been a key player for Inter since joining in 2009 and Arsenal may have to offer him a significant pay rise to persuade him to leave the city of Milan.
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Downing plans transfer request.
Arsenal target Stewart Downing may hand in a transfer request when he begins talks with Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish, according to Goal.com.
Liverpool recently had a £15m bid rejected for the winger as Villa are demanding £20m for him. Downing may try to force a move away from Villa Park by requesting a transfer himself.
Arsenal are expected to make a move for the 26-year-old if Samir Nasri leaves the club this summer but they face tough competition from Kenny Dalglish’s side.
A source told Goal.com: “Arsenal are interested in the event that Samir Nasri goes but Liverpool are still frontrunners and if they can sort out a fee he would jump at the chance of playing for Kenny Dalglish, but so far they haven’t sorted out a fee.
“At the minute Liverpool are the team that are doing all the pushing for him so he would like to go to Liverpool, but having said that if all of a sudden Arsenal come in and offer the £20m Villa want that could be that. You can’t turn around and say I am not going to Arsenal“.
Stekelenburg set for Roma.
Arsenal have lost out in the signing of Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg to Serie A side Roma, talkSPORT reports.
The Holland international has been looking for a way out of Amsterdam since Ajax won the league in May and the Giallorossi have been persistent in their attempts to bring the 28-year-old to the Italian capital.
Arsenal attempted to highjack the deal by asking the player to hold off talks with Roma and listen to their offer as they look to bring in competition for Lukasz Fabianski and Wojciech Szczesney.
The Gunners’ attempts failed and Stekelenburg continued negotiations with i Lupi and the deal is expected to be completed next week.
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