Agent Flies-In For Arsenal Talks Over Potential Deal For £60m Striker

The summer transfer window is in full swing so we’ll bring you all the latest transfer rumours and gossip from around the globe. Today, Arsenal step-up their interest in Mauro Icardi…

Mauro Icardi’s agent is due to fly to London to hold talks with Arsenal over a potential move for the £60m-rated Inter Milan hitman, according to reports in Italy via TeamTalk.

Arsene Wenger is in desperate need to sign a top class striker this summer and has been searching the market after missing out on Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy back in June.

While Lyon hitman Alexandre Lacazette has been strongly linked with a move to the Emirates in recent weeks, Icardi has also emerged as a possible target with the Express reporting last month that Arsenal were showing a keen interest in the striker.

It looks like Wenger is set to step-up his pursuit as TeamTalk are citing reports coming out of Italy that claim Icardi’s representatives are due in London to hold talks with Arsenal over a possible move to the Emirates.

The striker has bags of potential and has scored 52 goals in his 102 appearances since moving to the San Siro from Sampdoria in 2013, so I think Icardi would be a very useful addition to the squad.

However, any deal isn’t going to be straightforward as the report suggests that Napoli are also in the running for the Argentinean international as they look to find a replacement for Gonzalo Higuain following his move to Juventus.

To make matters worse, with Napoli flush with cash, TeamTalk claim that Inter Milan are now demanding a whopping £60m for Icardi’s signature while the striker will also request a long-term deal worth £4.2m per season.

Therefore, unless we could somehow negotiate a much-reduced fee with Inter, any deal for the 23-year-old is going to be extremely expensive to pull off and I personally don’t think Wenger will be prepared to pay anywhere near £60m for Icardi.

We’re reportedly haggling with Lyon over a £40m fee for Lacazette so I don’t see these supposed talks with Icardi’s agent leading to anything as the boss isn’t likely to pay another £20m to sign the South American.

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For me, Lacazette remains the most likely target and hopefully we can get something done soon as with Olivier Giroud likely to miss the Liverpool game, we have limited options up front for the start of the new season.