Arsenal Set To Bid For €38.5m-Rated Striker But Chelsea Also Keen

With the January transfer window now open for business clubs will be working hard to try and strengthen their squad for the second half of the season, so we’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest news, gossip and rumours. Today, Arsenal are set to bid for Diego Costa.

Arsenal are ready to do all they can to try and lure Diego Costa to the Emirates this month with Arsene Wenger making the €38.5m-rated hitman his number one priority, according to the Daily Star.

The Brazilian-born striker has been in sensational form this season, scoring 19 goals in just 17 appearances to help Atletico Madrid keep pace with Barcelona at the top of the La Liga table.

Arsenal are also flying high this season and currently hold a one-point advantage at the top of the Premier League following their best start in almost 10 years.

However, the Gunners title bid is in danger of being derailed by a lack of depth up front. Wenger has so far been heavily reliant on Olivier Giroud but with the Frenchman sidelined with an ankle problem, his replacement, Nicklas Bendtner, has also been ruled out for several weeks after picking up his own ankle injury on Wednesday.

It leaves Wenger worryingly short of options and the Star claim the long-serving boss will now ‘pull out all the stops to land’ Costa this month in the hope he can fire the north Londoners to the title.

The 25-year-old has a €38.5m (£32m) buy-out clause in his contract and Atletico are unlikely to do business for anything less than the full release fee, so it would be another big-money purchase if Arsenal can somehow pull it off.

However, the newspaper suggests that Chelsea are also hot on Costa’s trail and while Jose Mourinho was planning on making his move for the player in the summer, Arsenal’s interest could force the Blues into bringing forward their plans – although Mourinho insists he won’t be signing another striker this winter.

Even if the buy-out fee is met, the problem for either Arsenal or Chelsea could be persuading Costa to switch clubs mid-season. He is currently enjoying his best ever campaign and is in red-hot form heading into next summers World Cup and it remains to be seen whether he’ll risk unsettling himself by making a move to England in January.

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