Emirates Stadium side look to land Corinthians ace.
Check in to Crystal Palace vs Arsenal
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger will look to lure Brazilian Alexadre Pato to the Emirates Stadium in the January transfer window as he seeks to strengthen an attack that looks increasingly dependent on forward Olivier Giroud.
CaughtOffside understands that Wenger is readying a £16m bid for Pato, who has something of an up and down time of it since moving back to his native Brazil in January.
The 24 year old has come in for a fair amount of abuse from Corinthians fans who feel that the striker has failed to live up to expectations and his failed spot-kick in the quarter finals of the Copa do Brasil against Gremio may well prove to be the final nail in his coffin at the Sao Paulo club.
Pato attempted a cheeky lob from the spot that Dida saved to hand Gremio a spot in the semi-finals and the knives are seemingly now out for the forward who could well be open to a move to the Premier League.
Wenger is known to be a long term admirer of the former AC Milan man and may well feel his bid for Pato will be considered by Corinthians.
Pato spent six years at the San Siro and was at various stages of that spell considered one of the hottest striking talents in Serie A and his record of 51 goals in 117 appearances in the Italian top tier go some way to illustrating the quality the Corinthians man possesses.
Currently Wenger uses Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski in predominantly wide roles and as such the Arsenal manager has to turn to Nicklas Bendtner as a back-up option and therefore it’s no surprise that the North London club are looking to bring in a forward in January to boost their chances of ending a lengthy silverware drought.