Emirates Stadium side ready to shake-up Gunners attack ahead of move for Old Trafford man.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is reportedly readying a potential January bid for Man United player Juan Mata with speculation rife that the Spaniard may be sold by manager Louis van Gaal.
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The former Chelsea man has found himself warming the bench in the past two Man United fixtures and is a player van Gaal could choose to cash in on as he continues to re-shuffle his Old Trafford squad.
Wenger is known to be an admirer of the 25 year old attacker and is ready to fork out as much as £26m for the Man United man, who was brought in by former boss David Moyes in a then club record deal worth £37.1m in January.
Arsene Wenger will have access to extensive transfer funds in January and the French manager is ready to ring the changes in his attack with the likes of Lukas Podolski, Santi Cazorla, Joel Campbell and Yaya Sanogo all fighting for their futures at the north London club.
Mata would provide Wenger with arguably a more consistent creative attacking weapon than the aforementioned quartet and would perhaps better suit the Arsenal manager’s style of play.
There are serious long term injury concerns over attacker Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud is also out until the new year, leaving Wenger looking at potential January acquisitions.
It is thought that Man United would have no qualms about selling Mata to a Premier League rival and having spent upwards of £150m on new arrivals over the summer there is a sense that van Gaal must look to sell a player or two before making further signings.
Since moving to England, moving to Stamford Bridge from Valencia back in August 2011, Mata has racked up 41 goals and 54 assists in 154 appearances for Chelsea and Man United.