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Transfer News: Arsenal Told To Pay £95m To Land Two Key Targets

By on June 17, 2015

Arsenal have been told they will need to splash out £95m in order to land two of Arsene Wenger’s top transfer targets this summer, according to reports today.

I’m not expecting the boss to be too active in the market this summer but a new holding midfielder is certainly required and Morgan Schneiderlin has long been touted as a key target.

The Frenchman wants to leave Southampton in search of Champions League football and widespread reports have said we’re battling it out with Manchester United for his signature.

However, the Mirror claim today that the Saints are refusing to sell on the cheap and have slapped a £24m price-tag on the midfielder’s head. The South Coast club know the 25-year-old wants to leave but as he still has two years left on his contract, they want big money in order to sell.

I personally think Schneiderlin is easily worth £24m in today’s crazy market but obviously Arsene has his own thoughts so we’ll have to wait and see if he’s prepared to match that figure.

I suspect he might hold out and see what United do and reports have suggested we’re also in talks over Geoffrey Kondogbia as a potential alternative, so it looks like the boss is keeping his options open for now.

Another area many fans feel we need to strengthen is up front and we’ve been strongly linked with Gonzalo Higuain this month.

The Argentinean international is believed to be agitating for a move away from Napoli after they failed to qualify for the Champions League.

Former Napoli player – and now agent – Jose Alberti fuelled speculation over a move to the Emirates after telling reporters in Italy that he was “90% sure” Higuain would join Arsenal this summer.

However, it looks like Napoli are ready to play hard-ball as president Aurelio De Laurentiis has said he’ll only sell the striker if a ‘madman’ pays his buy-out clause. He’s quoted as saying by the Mirror:

“Higuain’s future? If a player has a contract this contract has to be respected,”

“If a madman arrives and offers to pay his buy-out clause then one must consider it.

“Otherwise Pipita (Higuain) will remain here.”

While De Laurentiis doesn’t disclose the exact buy-out amount, the Mirror claim it’s set at €100m – which equates to around £71m. Arsene is certain no ‘madman’ and there’s no way he’ll spend that kind of money on Higuain.

Hopefully De Laurentiis is just trying to force the price up to get as much as possible for the striker as I’d love to see us sign Higuain this summer. If we could get him along with Schneiderlin or Kondogbia and Cech, we’d be in excellent shape heading into next season.

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