Arsenal To Submit Higuain Offer During Formal Talks With Napoli In London This Week

The summer transfer window is now open for business so we’ll bring you all the latest transfer rumours and gossip from around the globe. Today, Arsenal step-up their interest in Gonzalo Higuain….

Arsenal will table their official opening bid for striker Gonzalo Higuain during face-to-face talks with Napoli chiefs in London on Thursday, according to Football-Italia.

Arsene Wenger is in the market for a new striker after missing out on Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy and Higuain has emerged as a prime target for the long-serving French boss in recent days after scoring a record 36 goals in 35 Serie A games last season.

The South American has been constantly linked with a move to the Emirates and Sky Sports News reported recently that Arsenal were among the clubs showing a keen interest in luring him to England after Higuain’s agent confirmed the striker won’t be signing a new deal at Napoli.

Italian outlet Calciomercato claimed on Monday night that Arsenal are ready to test Napoli’s resolve with a huge offer that would see us pay £42.6m in cash plus give them Olivier Giroud in exchange for Higuain’s signature.

Football-Italia are now claiming that this offer will be formally presented to Napoli chiefs at a meeting on Thursday after Wenger personally invited president Aurelio De Laurentiis and sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli to London for face-to-face negotiations.

The news outlet goes on to say that Arsenal are also ready to offer Higuain a four-year deal worth around £6.6m per season and the Argentinean international is keen on making the move to north London.

We’ll have to wait and see how much truth there is behind these latest reports but it would certainly be an interesting decision if Wenger does end up offering over £40m plus Giroud for Higuain.

Wenger has been a big fan of Giroud’s over the years and I’d personally be surprised if the boss was willing to sacrifice the French target-man, even if it meant getting his hands on one of his long-term targets.

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Plus, until now it’s been widely reported that the boss is looking to add a striker to his ranks after losing Danny Welbeck to a serious knee injury so if we were prepared to swap Giroud for Higuain, then it would mean we’d still need to bring in another front-man and we’d have spent over £40m of our transfer budget.

It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me and a deal like this would also be very un-Wenger like. Who knows, he might have decided to throw caution to the wind as this is likely to be his final year as manager but I’d be shocked if we ended up doing this proposed player-plus-cash swap deal for Higuain.