Arsenal
Arsenal Make Offer For €25m-Rated Midfielder, Player Keen To Join
Asier Illarramendi is keen to join Arsenal in the summer after the Gunners put forward a proposal to the €25m Real Madrid midfielder, so say reports in Spain.
With the January transfer in full swing, managers are strengthening their squads ahead of the second half of the season, so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip. Today, Arsenal are linked with Real Madrid’s Asier Illarramendi………..
Asier Illarramendi is keen to join Arsenal in the summer after the Gunners put forward a proposal to the €25m-rated Real Madrid midfielder, according to reports in Spain.
Illarra joined Madrid from Real Sociedad in 2013 for £24m but after a promising debut season at the Bernabeu, he’s quickly fallen out-of-favour under Carlo Ancelotti and has started just three La Liga games this season.
The 24-year-old is going to find first team action even harder to come by as Madrid are reportedly on the verge of signing midfielder Lucas Silva from Brazilian outfit Cruzeiro, so Illarra is expected to make-way and find himself a new club.
Understandably, there are no shortage of takers and Spanish outlet Marca claim that Athletic Bilbao have offered €25m (£19m) and Madrid are keen to do business this month to make room for Silva.
However, the newspaper suggests that Arsenal have also put forward an offer to sign Illarra in the summer and the midfielder wants to snub Bilbao in favour of waiting for a switch to North London.
It’s understood that negotiations between all parties will come to a head over the coming days and although Arsenal are unlikely to match Bilbao’s €25m offer, Madrid won’t make life too difficult if Illarra’s preference is to join the Gunners in June.
If this news is accurate, then it’s going to be an interesting few days and I’d personally love to see Illarra come to the club at the end of the season as despite his frustrating stint at Madrid, he’s a huge talent.
READ MORE –> Arsenal transfer news
The Spaniard is a deep laying playmaker so Arsene Wenger is likely to view him as a long-term replacement for Mikel Arteta – although it would be intriguing to see how we would line-up next season if he does join as I still think we need to play with a ‘proper’ defensive midfielder sitting in front of the back four.
