Arsenal have been touted as potential suitors for Thiago Alcantara despite the Bayern Munich midfielder already having an agreement to join Liverpool, according to various reports today.
Thiago has been one of the best midfield playmakers on the planet over the past few years and justified that reputation with another virtuoso performance for Bayern as they won the Champions League with a 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain earlier this month.
However, that’s expected to be the 29-year-old’s last game for the German giants as Thiago has informed Bayern he won’t be signing a new contract and wants to leave in search of a new challenge this summer.
The Spanish international has just one year remaining on his current deal so Bayern will cash-in rather than lose him for nothing next summer and Thiago has been strongly linked with a move to Liverpool in recent weeks.
But according to the Express, Arsenal are potential contenders to sign Thiago and they cite French transfer expert Patrick Moreau as suggesting that Mikel Arteta has even spoken directly with the player about a move to north London.
Arteta desperately needs to strengthen his midfield as Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira are being linked with moves away from Arsenal this summer while they’ve yet to agree terms to re-sign Dani Ceballos from Real Madrid.
It appears Arteta is trying to pull off a major coup by luring Thiago to the Emirates Stadium and the Express says they’ve been boosted after Bayern confirmed Liverpool are yet to open formal talks about a deal.
The newspaper claims the Champions League winners are prepared to sell if £25m is put on the table and while Liverpool seem reluctant to meet that figure, it could tempt Arsenal as Thiago would be a cheaper alternative to the likes of Thomas Partey.
However, it appears Liverpool are still firmly in pole position to sign the former Barcelona star as TeamTalk are citing a report that originates from the paper version of Mundo Deportivo [story can be seen here] that claims Thiago has an agreement in place to join the Merseysiders.
The Spanish outlet, as per the report by TeamTalk, suggests that Thiago will be free to join Liverpool once they successfully offload Georginio Wijnaldum – who’s a target for new Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman.
Wijnaldum has just one year left on his contract and is no closer to signing an extension so Liverpool are ready to cash-in on the Dutchman and will then formalise their interest in Thiago once he’s off the books.
It would be an excellent piece of business by Liverpool if they were able to trade Wijnaldum for Thiago as they are similar ages and there is little doubt the Spaniard is a higher calibre player who’ll improve Jurgen Klopp’s team.
We’ll have to wait and see how things develop over the coming weeks and while we can’t discount Arsenal from the race just yet, it does look increasingly likely Thiago will end up at Anfield this summer.
