Gunners are desperate to land a world-class marksman this summer.
Premier League giants Arsenal are preparing a big-money bid for highly rated Zenit St Petersburg front man Hulk come the end of the season as Gunners head coach Arsene Wenger continues his long-running search for bring more firepower up front to the Emirates.
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The north London club are currently enjoying a far better campaign than many neutrals and so-called experts had predicted in the buildup to the season.
And part of the reason for that is the surprising form in attack of France international Olivier Giroud, with the 27-year-old now in his second season with the north Londoners following his move to the capital from Ligue 1 outfit Montpellier two years ago.
In total, the marksman has managed to register an impressive haul of 14 goals and seven assists in his 35 matches in all competitions for the club, including ten strikes and six assists in his 24 Premier League contests.
However, there is also no doubting that the Frenchman’s previously prolific form up front that he was displaying on a consistent basis in the first half of the campaign has now dried up, as demonstrated by the fact that Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger opted not to start with Giroud in either of the club’s previous two key contests against Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round on Sunday, or against Bayern Munich in their Uefa Champions League round-of-16 first-leg clash on Wednesday night.
But Wenger’s clear and obvious lack of trust in his number one forward – the experienced French coach instead opted to go with the untried Yaya Sanogo in both those two aforementioned fixtures – should not come as too great a shock to the club’s fans, especially after the manager tried long and hard to recruit a new front man during the recent January transfer window.
Wenger, though, was unable to find any suitable targets, with the veteran trainer instead preferring to conduct his main transfer dealings in the summer window, although already it is understood that the coach has identified his number one target for when the window reopens on July 1.
And that player is Zenit’s muscular Brazil international, someone who has been heavily linked with a move to the Premier League in recent years, with both Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur having come close in the past to landing the 27-year-old.
However, with Hulk having now been given a guarantee by his Russian paymasters that he will be allowed to leave the club this summer if a bid in the region of £40m is received for his services, Wenger and Arsenal are said to be confident of sealing a deal for the player before the World Cup gets under way in June.