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Arsenal face battle with Real Madrid for £35m-rated star – report

By on July 23, 2016

According to a report in the Mirror, Arsenal are set to battle-it-out with Real Madrid over the signing of £35m-rated Newcastle United star Moussa Sissoko this summer.

Sissoko is a player that’s constantly been linked with a move to the Emirates and even the player himself has fuelled the speculation as he’s never hidden his love for Arsenal.

The midfielder is expected to leave Newcastle following their relegation to the Championship and he talked up a move to north London after telling reporters at the start of the summer that Arsenal were the ‘club of my heart’:

Amid links with Arsenal, Sissoko is quoted as saying by the Get French Football News:

It is very flattering. Arsenal is one of the best European teams. To be watched by that sort of club, that proves that you are a quality player. It is good to know. I hope that I will have the chance, soon, to play for this club or for a similar club…

It is a very big European club. I think that very few people would refuse to play for this club. Everyone knows, I often said it when I was young, Arsenal is the club of my heart, because there were quite a few French players there like Thierry Henry, Robert Pirès, Sylvain Wiltord, Patrick Vieira who was my idol…

The beautiful Arsenal. We will see. I cannot tell you if I am going to go to Arsenal. For the moment, I am focused on the French national team and the Euros. I have advisors who are dealing with all of that and I hope that things will go well with as little difficult as possible for me to find another club.

Clearly Sissoko would like to join Arsenal and the Mirror claim that we’re interested in signing the French international following his superb performances at Euro 2016 this summer.

However, the newspaper cites reports from the Newcastle Chronicle that suggest we’ll now face stiff competition with Real Madrid also keen on signing the 26-year-old and are ready to offer Newcastle players in exchange to sway any deal in their favour.

The report indicates that the Magpies are demanding a whopping £35m for Sissoko’s signature, which is a ridiculous fee even in today’s overly-inflated market, but I think we’ll end up seeing the midfielder go for a fee nearer £25m.

Wenger is in the market for reinforcements and while reports today have claimed we’re closing in on a deal to sign Riyah Mahrez, Sissoko would be an interesting alternative if that proposed deal fell through.

The Frenchman is predominantly a central midfielder but he’s capable of playing out on the wing and his versatility and experience of the Premier League will no doubt be appealing to Wenger.

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I’d personally much rather see us go all-out for Mahrez but we could do a lot worse than turning to Sissoko if we can’t persuade Leicester to sell the Algerian international this summer.