Emirates Stadium side told to spend big for Bernabeu ace.
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Real Madrid have raised the asking price for Arsenal target Gonzalo Higuain to €40m (£34m) according to Spanish source El Confidencial.
The Spanish giants are apparently ready to sell the Argentine, not least because the 25 year old has publicly stated his intention to leave the Bernabeu, but are looking to garner as much as possible from the striker’s sale as re-elected president Florentino Perez attempts to generate funds ahead of a big money bid for Tottenham winger Gareth Bale.
Real Madrid have already spent big this summer, bringing in Spanish starlets Isco and Asier Illarramendi for a combined fee of over £50m as well as signing Daniel Carvajal and Casemiro for good measure and therefore it’s perhaps unsurprising that Perez is looking to sell big name players before he makes any more purchases.
Arsene Wenger may well be unwilling to continue his push to sign Higuain, believing that the La Liga side are stringing Arsenal along from one valuation to another and the Gunners boss may feel that a bid in excess of £30m for a player who hasn’t been a first choice starter at Real Madrid for three seasons is more than a tad excessive.
Of course there would be the possible side-benefit of such a bid in theory leading to Arsenal’s North London rivals losing their prized asset….
Arsenal are certainly on the look out for an attacking addition or two and the longer the transfer window is open the more desperate Wenger may become.
That said his Arsenal side opened their Asian pre-season tour with a thumping 7-0 win during which attackers Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski all found the net.