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Arsenal preparing £63m bid for want-away Real Madrid star – report
According to the Express, Arsenal are preparing an offer in the region of £63m for want-away Real Madrid attacker James Rodriguez.
The Colombian international has fallen out-of-favour under Zinedine Zidane in recent months and was been left on the bench for key Champions League games against Wolfsburg and Manchester City.
Understandably he’s going to find it tough to oust the likes of Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema but Zidane has even been favouring Jesse and Lucas Vazquez in recent weeks, giving a clear indication he’s not a huge fan of Rodriguez’.
It’s no surprise then that speculation has been mounting that the 24-year-old will be on the move this summer and the Express are citing a report from Spanish outlet AS that claims Rodriguez has now called a meeting with Madrid directors where he’ll inform them he wants to leave.
President Florentino Perez has indicated he wants to keep hold of the Colombian but player-power often wins in these situations and Rodriguez is attracting plenty of interest.
The Express report claims that Arsenal are among the clubs who are preparing an offer in the region of £63m for the unsettled attacker – which is the amount Madrid paid Monaco for his services two years ago.
Obviously we’ll face plenty of competition for his signature if Madrid do decide to cash-in with the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Juventus and Bayern Munich also credited with interest in the newspaper.
With the opening of the summer transfer window just around the corner, speculation is intensifying so it’s difficult to know how much truth there is behind this report. On the one hand, it’s easy to believe that Arsenal have an interest in Rodriguez as he’s a top class player who’d be an excellent addition to the squad.
With Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain being tipped to leave this summer, he’d be a superb replacement and would form a devastating attack alongside Sanchez and Ozil.
However, there is one part of this report that I find extremely difficult to believe…..can you see Wenger spending £63m on one player? No, me neither. So if that’s what it’s going to take to buy Rodriguez, then unfortunately I don’t see us competing for his signature.
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