Arsenal have joined Liverpool in the race to sign Diego Carlos and Sevilla are ready to do business if an offer worth £54.5m is put on the table this summer, according to the Telegraph via the Metro.
Carlos has earned a reputation as one of the best centre-backs in European football after enjoying a superb debut season at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium following his move from Nantes last summer.
The 27-year-old produced a number of dominant displays at the back to help Sevilla finish fourth in La Liga this season to book their place in the Champions League next year and his performances have alerted clubs here in the Premier League.
Liverpool have been strongly linked with Carlos in recent weeks with the Daily Star claiming the Merseysiders are ready to spend big to land the Brazilian defender as a replacement for Dejan Lovren – who joined Zenit St Petersburg last week.
Jurgen Klopp reportedly sees Carlos as the ideal partner for Virgil van Dijk and is keen for the pair to line-up together at Anfield next season but it looks like the newly-crowned Premier League champions will now face stiff competition for his signature.
That’s because the Metro are citing a report from the Telegraph that claims Arsenal have now joined Liverpool in the race to sign Carlos as Mikel Arteta looks to build on their FA Cup victory over Chelsea at the weekend.
The 2-1 win at Wembley means Arsenal have boosted their transfer kitty this summer after securing European football for next season and Arteta knows he needs to overhaul his defence if the Gunners are to break into the top four again.
Willian Saliba has arrived from Saint-Etienne but Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis, David Luiz and Rob Holding have struggled at times this season so Arteta needs an upgrade and Carlos has now been identified as a key target by Arsenal.
The newspaper says the South American defender has a release clause in his contract which is set at £68m but Sevilla are willing to do business if an offer of around £54.5m is put on the table this summer.
Liverpool are reportedly ready to spend that kind of money on Carlos, according to the Daily Star, but it remains to be seen whether Arsenal can afford to splash around £55m on one player as Arteta is still going to be working from a tight budget.
The north Londoners are going to need to offload some players to raise extra funds with the likes of Matteo Guendouzi, Mesut Ozil, Lucas Torreira, Sead Kolasinac and Mustafi all possible departures over the coming weeks.
If Arsenal can generate extra money from player sales then they should be able to compete with Liverpool for Carlos’s signature and I think he’d be a superb signing for either club.
