Arsenal Miss Out As Man Utd Agree €25m Deal To Land Brazilian Forward

The January transfer window is now closed but that won’t stop the newspapers from speculating ahead of the summer so we’ll bring you all the news and gossip. Today, Man Utd appear to have beaten Arsenal to the signing of Firmino…

Manchester United have beaten off competition from the likes of Arsenal after agreeing a €25m deal with Hoffenheim to sign highly-rated forward Roberto Firmino, according to reports.

The Brazilian international moved to Hoffenheim in 2010 and after taking some time to settle in Germany, he has developed into one of the best attackers in the Bundesliga.

The 23-year-old’s breakthrough season came last year when he scored 22 goals and provided 11 assists in just 37 appearances, and this impressive form sparked interest form the Premier League with reports suggesting Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man Utd were all keeping tabs on the player.

Firminio hasn’t quite lived up to his sensational form of last season this campaign but he’s still managed to chip in with 8 goals and 9 assists so far and speculation has suggested that Arsenal were ready to make their interest official at the end of the season.

However, it seems the Gunners may have missed out as the Daily Star are reporting that Man Utd have now agreed a €25m (£18.6m) deal with Hoffenheim to sign Firminio this summer.

The newspaper suggests that United scout Peter Braund has been keeping a close eye on the forward’s progress in recent weeks and has persuaded Louis van Gaal to make his move as the Dutch boss prepares for another busy summer of activity at Old Trafford.

Hoffenheim were initially desperate to keep hold of their star man but it appears they’ve succumbed to the inevitable and accepted that they can’t keep hold of him, so have decided to cash-in and do a deal with United, and it’s believed they’ve already lined-up Anderlecht forward Dennis Praet as a potential replacement.

Firminio is a skillful attacking midfielder who has an eye for goal and has all the tricks you’d expect from a Brazilian international, so he’ll certainly be an exciting addition if this report is accurate and United do end up signing him this summer.

READ MORE –> Arsenal transfer news | Man Utd transfer news

van Gaal already has a wealth of attacking talent available to him so the signing of Firminio would surely cast further doubt over the future of Angel Di Maria, with the Argentinean struggling to settle following his move from Real Madrid last summer.

However, there is still time for the likes of Arsenal to try and hijack United’s move so until a contract is signed, anything can still happen.