Arsenal & Man Utd in battle to sign £170,000-a-week international star

The January transfer window is open and managers are working hard on strengthening their squads and identifying targets for the summer so we’ll keep you up-to-date with the latest rumours. Today, Arsenal and Man Utd’s face competition for Yannick Carrasco

Arsenal and Manchester United are in a transfer battle with AC Milan over the signing of Belgian international attacker Yannick Carrasco, according to a report in the Daily Star.

Carrasco was a product of the youth system at Genk and made his name during impressive spells at Monaco and Atletico Madrid before making a shock move to Chinese Super League outfit Dalian Yifang last winter.

The 25-year-old has scored seven goals in 26 appearances over the past 12 months in China but Carrasco is already being strongly linked with a move back to Europe with several clubs being touted as potential suitors.

The Mirror reported recently that Arsenal and Manchester United are in the race to sign the Belgian international and the newspaper quoted his wife, Noemie Happart, as confirming the English giants are ‘very interested’ in her husband.

When asked about reports linking Arsenal and Man Utd with Carrasco, his wife is quoted by the Mirror as saying at the weekend:

“Yes, they are very interested. I do not hide it, but nothing is signed.” she said on Belgian TV show RTBF on Saturday.

“There are a lot of things going on, he has been called by a lot of clubs,”

“A lot of clubs are interested, nothing concrete, nothing has been signed yet.”

However, it seems Arsenal and United face further competition from Italy as the Daily Star are citing journalist David Amoyal as claiming on the Calcioland podcast that AC Milan are also in the running to sign Carrasco.

“We talked a bit about Carrasco, who has been linked to Arsenal, now also Man United look in the mix,” he told The Calcioland podcast according to the Daily Star.

“Milan are as well, but it would be hard for them to meet his wage requests and also acquire him on anything but a loan.”

Milan are a huge historic club so they could be a tempting proposition if Carrasco wants a move to Italy but the San Siro giants may struggle to afford his £170,000-a-week [source: Sun] wages, which would be good news for Arsenal and United.

Arsenal are in the market for attacking reinforcements after losing Danny Welbeck for the rest of the season due to a broken ankle while Henrikh Mkhitaryan is also on the sidelines with a foot problem.

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

However, Unai Emery has admitted he can only sign players on loan this month so that could leave Man Utd as favourites to sign Carrasco if the Belgian star opts for a move to the Premier League.