Arsenal & Chelsea To Tempt Serie A Star With Lucrative £3.3m-Per-Season Deal

The opening of 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 and Chelsea are linked with Kostas Manolas….

Arsenal and Chelsea are ready to tempt centre-back Kostas Manolas with a lucrative £3.3m-per-season contract after the Greek international failed to agree terms over a new deal with Roma, according to Italian outlet Gazaetta dello Sport.

Manolas made his name with Olympiakos before joining Roma in the summer of 2014 and he’s just come off the back of another excellent campaign having forged a reputation as one of the best central defenders in Italian football.

The 25-year-old’s future at the Stadio Olimpico is in serious doubt as with just two years remaining on his current deal, he’s rejected Roma’s latest contract offer worth around £1.66m-per-season [source: Express].

The uncertainty has led to interest from the Premier League and Italian outlet Gazaetta dello Sport claim that Arsenal and Chelsea are ready to tempt the Greek star with lucrative deals worth around £3.3m-per-season – over double what Roma have put on the table.

Arsene Wenger is in the market for another centre-back to compete with Per Mertesacker and Gabriel as the Gunners boss looks to find a reliable partner for Laurent Koscielny and it looks as though the Frenchman is ready to renew his interest in Manolas having missed out on his signature two years ago.

New Chelsea boss Antonio Conte is also understood to be on the look out for a new central defender to compliment the 3-5-2 formation he’s expected to deploy next season and the Italian tactician knows Manolas well from his time in Serie A.

No doubt the defender will be tempted to double his money at either Arsenal or Chelsea but Gazetta dello Sport claim that Roma are pleading with the player to postpone making a decision over his future until later in the summer as any sale prior to September 1st would see former club Olympiakos take a 50% cut of any fee.

The Serie A giants have already brought in defenders Juan Jesus and Nacho so they appear to be preparing for life without Manolas but you can understand that they’d prefer to wait until January before cashing-in to avoid missing out on millions of pounds.

It’s going to be interesting to see what Manolas decides to do but even if he demands to leave for England, there’s no guarantee Roma would agree to sell as he does still have two years remaining on his contract.

READ MORE –> Arsenal transfer news | Chelsea transfer news

However, it’s never sensible to keep hold of an unhappy player against his will so I’m sure Arsenal and Chelsea will be doing all they can to persuade Manolas to quit Italy and come to the Premier League this summer and he’d be a superb signing for either club if they could pull it off.