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Arsenal submit £20m bid for prolific striker – report

By on June 14, 2016

According to Portuguese outlet Noticias ao Minuto, Arsenal have seen an opening £20m (€25.3m) offer for striker Islam Slimani rejected by Sporting Lisbon.

Arsene Wenger has already hinted that he’ll look to bring in another striker after losing Danny Welbeck for the majority of next season due to a serious knee injury.

We’ve been linked with a number of players in recent weeks, most notably Jamie Vardy, but our proposed £20m move for the Leicester City striker has stalled after he decided to mull over his future during Euro 2016.

It’s left the boss looking for alternative targets in-case Vardy decides to remain at Leicester and it appears his search has taken him to Portugal as news outlet Noticias ao Minuto claim we’ve seen a £20m offer for Slimani knocked back by Sporting Lisbon.

The report says that Liverpool have also seen an identical offer rejected with Sporting holding out for the full value of the striker’s £24m (€30m) release clause – which expires on June 30th.

We’ll have to wait and see whether Wenger decides to up his bid and match the release figure but we need to act fast otherwise Lisbon could increase the asking price when the clause expires at the end of the month.

That leaves us in a bit of a difficult situation as reports suggest that Arsenal are prepared to wait until Vardy makes his decision after he’s finished at the Euro’s – which could be in July meaning we’d miss Slimani’s release clause deadline.

However, I personally wouldn’t be too disappointed if we did miss out on the Algerian international as I think he would be a risky signing. The 27-year-old did score an impressive 31 goals in all competitions for Sporting last season but can he replicate that sort of form in the Premier League?

Club to demand £30m after Arsenal table opening £25m offer

It’s easy to get carried away with the number of goals a player scores in weak league’s like the Portuguese Primeira Liga but many struggle when they come to England, so Slimani would still be a gamble and I think there are better strikers we should be going for.