Dutchman has a contract at Villa Park until 2016.
Arsenal are lining up a shock move for highly rated Aston Villa right-back Leandro Bacuna at the end of the season as the north London club prepare for the departure of Bacary Sagna from the Emirates.
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The Premier League giants have been holding face-to-fave negotiations with their experienced France international for over a year now about trying to extend the right back’s seven-year stay at the club, with Sagna’s current deal in the capital now set to run out at the end of June.
However, as yet the two parties have been unable to come to any sort of agreement though over new terms, with the 30-year-old demanding a three-year deal on significantly increased terms to those which he is currently on.
And as a result, it now appears as though this will be the Frenchman’s final campaign with the north Londoners, with Sagna currently said to be weighing up more lucrative offers from the likes of Galatasaray, Paris Saint-Germain, AS Monaco and Inter Milan.
Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger has been busy though drawing up a list of possible replacements for the Sagna at the Emirates next season, with the Frenchman said to be keen to get all of the club’s transfer activity out of the way before this summer’s Fifa World Cup finals get under way in June.
However, initially it had been expected that Wenger wanted to sign either Borussia Dortmund right-back Lukasz Piszczek or Everton’s right-sided full back Seamus Coleman to take over from Sagna at the Emirates next season.
But Wenger has been quoted a whopping figure of £25m by the Merseyside giants for their in-form Republic of Ireland international, while he has also been told by the Bundesliga outfit that the Poland international is not for sale at any price this summer, meaning the Frenchman has now been forced to switch his focus elsewhere.
And Wenger’s new target is Villa’s former Netherlands Under-21 international, a player who only arrived in the West Midlands from Eredivisie outfit FC Groningen at the beginning of this campaign on a three-year deal, although already Bacuna has proved himself to be an outstanding addition to head coach Paul Lambert’s side.
The 22-year-old, who can also operate in midfield too, has so far managed to register five goals and an assist in total in his 30 matches in all competitions, all of which have come in the Premier League.