Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta appears to have given a bit of a clue about the club’s rumoured transfer pursuit of Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic.
The Serbia international has been in superb form in Serie A in recent times, establishing himself as one of Europe’s most exciting young talents with 18 goals in 20 games in all competitions this season.
While it might seem a tad ambitious for Arsenal to be attempting to sign Vlahovic ahead of so many other top clubs, there has been growing speculation that their interest is genuine and that they’re going all out to try to lure him to the Emirates Stadium…
Can confirm an Arsenal offer for Dusan Vlahovic of close to 45m plus Torreira. The Fiorentina striker scored 33 goals in 2021, equalling a record in Italy set by Ronaldo. Can see this one dragging out. Vlahovic happy to bide his time & Fiorentina content to assess other offers.
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) January 5, 2022
When asked specifically about the Vlahovic transfer rumours, Arteta certainly didn’t deny the efforts to sign the 21-year-old, and in fact suggested that Gunners chief Edu is hard at work trying to get good signings in this January.
According to the Daily Mirror, Arteta responded to questions about Vlahovic by saying: “I think with the amount of things and the way that we want to evolve the squad, we have to maximise every window in many different ways and we are alert.
“Edu and his team are working very hard because we know exactly what we need to do, and whether we can accomplish that in January or in the summer, is a different question as it is related to other stuff.”
Too late for Arsenal to seal Vlahovic transfer?
Speaking to CaughtOffside recently, former Manchester United midfielder Luke Chadwick expressed the view that Arsenal are now surely out of the running for someone of Vlahovic’s calibre, naming the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea as more likely destinations for the Fiorentina front-man.
“They’ve certainly got the finances to pay £80-odd-million for someone like Vlahovic, but I think that sort of player is probably one they should’ve gone for a few months ago,” Chadwick said.
“His stock has grown so much this season and I imagine there’ll be plenty of suitors who are established Champions League clubs who’d get there first.
“Potentially his stock has just grown a bit too much in the last few months, so you’d expect him now to go to a Liverpool, a Chelsea, a Bayern Munich – somewhere where Champions League football is ready for him.”