Spaniards perform dramatic U-turn regarding the availability of their attacker.
Arsenal are understood to have been given encouragement by La Liga giants Real Madrid in their long-running efforts to persuade los Blancos to loan them young front man Alvaro Morata until the end of the season, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.
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The north London club had initially made the recruitment of a new centre forward the top priority of the January transfer window after fears grew that first-choice striker Olivier Giroud had too much work on his plate.
However, after spending the first half of the winter window negotiating with Madrid to take Morata on a six-month loan deal, starting in this month and lasing until the summer, the Gunners were the informed by the Spaniards that no player would be allowed to leave the Santiago Bernabeu in January, not even on loan.
But, it is now believed that Madrid have softened their previous hard line stance, especially regarding Morata, and may now be willing to allow the Spain Under-21 international to join a rival on a short-term deal.
And that news will come as a huge relief to the north Londoners, who have generally struggled to bring any new faces to the Emirates so far this month.