Arsenal
Arsenal Plotting To Hijack Tottenham’s Move For Croatian Playmaker
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is plotting to hijack Tottenham’s move for a highly-rated Croatian youngster. Find out who the player is and who else is interested.
Although the summer transfer window is officially closed that doesn’t stop clubs working hard behind the scenes to prepare for future signings, so we’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest gossip. Today, Arsenal are linked with Spurs target Alen Halilovic.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is plotting to hijack Tottenham’s move for Alen Halilovic by luring the Croatian youngster to the Emirates, according to the Express.
The 17-year-old has emerged as one of the hottest young properties in Europe since breaking into the Dinao Zagreb first team last season, and he’s already made over 30 appearances for their first team.
His impressive form has not only seem him earn 3 caps for the senior Croatian national team, but it’s also led to speculation of a big-money move to one of Europe’s top clubs.
Widespread reports in the summer said that Tottenham were on the brink of securing a £12m deal until the move fell through at the last minute, with some suggesting Zagreb demanded a higher fee while other say the players father blocked the move over fears of the amount of first team football his son would get.
Halilovic has continued to impress this season as Spurs continued to watch his progress and it seems he’s also caught the attention of the red half of London with the Express claiming that Arsenal are looking to beat their rivals to the youngsters signature and are weighing-up a January move of their own.
However, it’s not just the north London duo that are keeping a close eye on the teenager with the newspaper suggesting that CSKA Moscow and Bayern Munich are also interested.
Zagreb are not likely to let their star man leave on the cheap but another main stumbling block over any potential January deal will be persuading the youngster to leave his homeland, particularly in the run-up to the World Cup.
Croatia’s play-off with Iceland is finely balanced at 0-0 heading into tonight’s decisive second leg and if they make it through to qualify for Brazil 2014, Halilovic is going to be desperate to secure his place in the squad.
A move to a foreign country and an unfamiliar league without the guarantee of first team football is hardly going to be the ideal preparation, so I expect Arsenal and Spurs may find it tough to persuade him to make the move to England this winter.
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