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Madrid Talks Could See Arsenal Miss Out On £25m Signing

By on July 3, 2013

Arsenal could be set to miss out on the signing of £25m-rated midfielder Asier Illarramendi with Real Madrid due to hold talks with Real Sociedad later this week, according to a report by talkSPORT today.

We were heavily linked with a move for the highly-rated midfielder two weeks ago when he played a starring role in Spain’s European Under-21 Championship winning campaign, with boss Arsene Wenger believed to be a huge fan of the 23-year-old’s.

A defensive minded midfielder is believed to be on Wenger’s agenda this summer and talkSPORT suggest Illarramendi features prominently in the managers thoughts.

However, it appears Madrid have stolen a march on us after president Florentino Perez made the youngster a priority signing this summer as they look to bring in a long-term replacement for Xabi Alonso – who is expected to leave the Bernabeu next summer when his contract runs out.

Madrid are now due to hold talks with Sociedad president Jokin Aperribay later this week with a view to securing the players signature, with the deal expected to cost the La Liga giants £25m.

The only stumbling block left is to try and persuade the player to leave his boyhood club, but Madrid is a tempting proposition – particularly for Spanish players – so I’d expect the deal to go through without much trouble.

I’ll be gutted if we do miss out as Illarramendi looks like a top-talent and I could see him fitting in well at the Emirates, although £25m would be a huge outlay for a player who’s only really had one amazing season in La Liga. If Wenger isn’t prepared to pay £22m for Fellaini, I couldn’t see him agreeing to pay £25m for Illarramendi anyway.

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