North Londoners are desperate to add more competition for current first-choice Szczesny.
Check in to Transfer Window: Done Deal Alerts
Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger is set to resurrect his long-running interest in Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Manuel Reina after deciding to pull out of a cut-price deal to sign Queens Park Rangers shot-stopper Julio Cesar this summer.
The north London club have been on the look-out for an experienced keeper ever since Wenger controversially decided to ‘rest’ first-choice Wojciech Szczesny for the Gunners’ critical trip to take on Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena for the second leg of their Uefa Champions League round-of-16 clash in March.
At the time, Wenger claimed that the young Poland international was “mentally fatigued”, and replaced him with compatriot and reserve-team keeper Lukasz Fabianski, who kept his place between the sticks for the club for the majority of the remainder of the season.
However, it is understood that the Frenchman is still keen to push ahead with plans to bring a more mature No 1 to the Emirates this summer in order to provide some much-needed competition in goal for Szczesny in the new campaign.
Initially, that man was going to be Brazil international Cesar, who only this week appeared on the verge of a £1.5 million move across the capital from Loftus Road.
That transfer, though, has collapsed after Wenger had a late change of heart about the 33-year-old, who is set to join Napoli instead now, with the Arsenal manager having shifted his focus back towards unsettled Liverpool custodian Reina, who he first tried to sign in 2010 for £25m.
Three years younger than Cesar at 30, the highly talented Spain international is set to cost far more than the Brazilian though, being contracted as he is to Anfield until 2016.
However, with the Reds having recently snapped up Sunderland shot-stopper Simon Mignolet for £9m, Wenger is said to be confident of being able to land Reina for as little as £15m this summer, especially as the player himself is believed to be keen to move to the capital and play in the Champions League again next season, with his club also reportedly not going to stand in his way of joining the Gunners after eight years of loyal service on Merseyside now that they themselves have bought a replacement.