Arsenal Now ‘Favourites’ To Sign Starlet After Barca Refuse To Match Contract Offer

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 Tony Sanabria.

Arsenal are now considered favourites to sign Barcelona starlet Tony Sanabria after the Catalan club refused to improve upon their existing contract offer, according to reports in Spain today.

Sanabria is regarded as one of the most promising talents in Barca’s much-famed Academy and has already been invited to play with the first team on several occasions. However, despite this, he continues to play for the Barcelona B team in the Spanish second division and speculation is increasing that the 17-year-old is ready to leave the club in order to make the step up to first team football quicker.

The youngster is still tied to a youth contract as players can’t sign professional terms in Spain until they turn 18, and it was reported last week that Barcelona were set to hold a final round of talks with the player and his representative – Raul Verdu – to try and finally persuade him to commit his future to the club before his 18th birthday in March 2014.

However, it appears those talks have failed with Spanish media outlet Mundo Deportivo reporting today that the La Liga champions have refused to improve upon their offer leaving Arsenal the new favourites to snap up the exciting forward ahead of Italian outfit AS Roma.

The newspaper claims that Verdu sat down to review all the offers available to his client and Arsenal’s is the best both financially and in terms of fast tracking the player to the first team, and with Barca not willing to match this offer, Sanabria is understood to be open to the idea of moving to England.

The Spanish giants rely heavily on their young stars staying at the club for it’s name and reputation, and not for money, so they leave themselves vulnerable to losing some of their more promising young players who are  lured away by better contract offers from abroad.

It seems Sanabria could be set to join a growing list of players who have swapped Barca for the Emirates, with the likes of Fran Merida, Hector Bellerin, Jon Toral and most famously, Cesc Fabregas all opting to join Arsenal at a young age from the Catalans.

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Are Arsenal excited by the prospect of signing one of Barca’s best prospects?