Arsenal Locked In Talks To Sign La Liga Star, Deal Can Be Done At £35.5m

The summer transfer window is in full swing and managers are working hard on their transfer targets so we’ll bring you all the latest gossip from around the globe. Today, the latest on Arsenal’s pursuit of Steven N’Zonzi…

Arsenal are locked in talks to sign Steven N’Zonzi and Sevilla are ready to do business but only if the midfielders £35.5m release clause is paid in full, according to various reports.

Unai Emery has already signed two new midfielders with Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi arriving this summer along with goalkeeper Bernd Leno, centre-back Sokratis and right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner as the Spaniard overhauls the squad he inherited from Arsene Wenger.

However, Francis Coquelin joined Valencia in January while Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla have also left the club this summer so Emery is reportedly still in the market for further midfield reinforcements and N’Zonzi has been touted as a prime target.

Emery knows the French international well from their time together at Sevilla where they won two Europa League’s and it looks like the Arsenal boss is hoping to be reunited with the 6ft 5in midfielder in north London.

TeamTalk are citing reports from France that claim Arsenal have been locked in negotiations with Sevilla but have been trying to negotiate a lower fee as they’re reluctant to meet his £35.5m [€40m] release clause.

Emery needs to offload some fringe players to help fund his swoop for N’Zonzi as he’s already spent the vast majority of his original £70m budget so Arsenal are hoping to strike a cut-price deal for the want-away midfielder.

However, Roma are also reportedly in the running to sign the 29-year-old Frenchman and the Mirror claims Sevilla are ready to do business but only if Arsenal pay the full release fee.

This claim is supported by Sevilla’s director of football, who recently suggested they will only consider selling N’Zonzi if a club meets his clause. Joaquin Caparros is quoted as saying by TeamTalk:

“We have not received any offers for him and I will say the same to any clubs who may be interested as what we said with [Clement] Lenglet – he has a buy-out clause and it’s €40m.”

We’ll have to wait and see how the negotiations progress over the coming days but N’Zonzi would be an excellent signing for Arsenal if we could get a deal agreed for his signature this summer.

READ–> Arsenal battling to sign £13m star

The lanky midfielder would give us a presence in the middle of the park and he should have no trouble settling in England having played in the Premier League for Blackburn and Stoke.