Arsenal identify £12m Plan B option if Wilfried Zaha pursuit fails

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Arsenal will reportedly switch their attention to Hull City forward Jarrod Bowen as a potential alternative option to Wilfried Zaha this summer.

As noted by Sky Sports, the Gunners are said to have launched a £40m bid for the Crystal Palace winger, although it falls significantly short of their £80m valuation.

SEE MORE: Video: Arsenal transfer target Wilfried Zaha scores with stunning finish for Ivory Coast

In turn, that is a major gap between the two figures and it will be a concern for some Arsenal fans that they are wasting their time on a possible pursuit if Palace aren’t willing to reduce their demands by a large margin.

With that in mind, it would seem as though Arsenal have a Plan B in place, as The Sun report that they are prepared to offer £12m to prise Bowen away from Hull following on from his impressive campaign last year.

The 22-year-old bagged 22 goals and four assists in 46 Championship games, and so he certainly showed he can deliver at that level, primarily from his preferred position on the right wing.

While Zaha has shown that he can deliver in the Premier League and is closer to the finished article, it could be argued that Bowen offers better value for money and if developed and improved in the right way, he could be a star for Arsenal moving forward.

Time will tell if that’s the case or not, but ultimately Bowen would arguably be the more sensible of the two signings, assuming that Arsenal are unable to bring down Zaha’s touted price-tag.

Further, with the Mirror suggesting that the Gunners only have around £40m to spend this summer, that strengthens the case in favour of making a move for Bowen instead to allow Unai Emery to have funds to strengthen other areas of his squad too.

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