Arsenal Make Formal £18m Bid As Wenger Eyes Double La Liga Raid

As we approach the opening of the summer window clubs will be intensifying their efforts in the transfer market so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip. Today, Gooner Mac brings us news of an £18m bid from Arsenal.

Arsenal have tabled a formal £18m bid for Antoine Greizmann as Arsene Wenger eyes a double raid on Real Sociedad with Carlos Vela also on his radar, according to reports today.

We’ve been linked with Greizmann for some time and speculation back in January suggested we failed with an approach to sign him during the winter window, with Sociedad seemingly unwilling to do business half-way through the season.

However, it appears we’ve now renewed our interest with the Metro reporting today that Arsenal are confident the Spaniard’s are ready to cash-in and we’ve tested their resolve by submitting a formal £18m bid for the 23-year-old winger.

It remains to be seen whether that will be enough to persuade Sociedad into selling their star man as it’s understood Greizmann has a but-out clause worth around £24m, so we may have to up our offer if we want to land the hugely talented attacker.

The France international has just enjoyed his best ever season with his 16 goals in 36 games helping Sociedad to a seventh placed finish in the La Liga table, so it’s understandable that he’s attracting interest. The newspaper claims that Juventus are also keen but it’s understood the player would prefer a switch to the Premier League rather than Italy.

If successful in our pursuit of Greizmann, it could be part of a double raid on Sociedad as the Metro suggest that Wenger is ready to trigger a £3m buy-back clause in Carlos Vela’s contract and wants to bring both attackers to the Emirates this summer.

This claim is in contrast to what reports in Spain were suggesting last week, with Mundo Deportivo reporting that the boss is actually only interested in Greizmann and wants to use our buy-back option on Vela as a bargaining chip to reduce the price for the Frenchman.

READ MORE –> Arsenal eye swoop on Real Madrid

So it’s not clear exactly what Arsene’s plans are for Vela but I think he’d be a useful player to have around the squad, and at £3m, he’d be a bargain. Both Vela and Greizamnn are capable of playing anywhere across the front three positions so they would give us great depth in attack next season, but I’m not convinced both are necessary if the boss is planning on bringing in another striker as well this summer.