Arsenal and Fiorentina look like they are set to come to an agreement for the fee for super Serbian striker, Dusan Vlahovic.
The Gunners are in desperate need of reinforcements up front this month, with the futures of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah all still up in the air. Aubameyang looks like he is leaving, while the latter two are set to run their contracts down.
Mikel Arteta is clearly a fan of Fiorentina ace Vlahovic, who is having the season of his life. The 21-year-old is a powerful, left-footed striker and looks like he could solve a lot of Arsenal’s issues up top.
And now, Fiorentina are reportedly resigned to losing him, with 18 months left on his contract.
But though Vlahovic looks destined to leave Florence within the next two transfer windows, the sticking point for Arteta and co. isn’t the fee that the Serie A outfit are demanding but the agreement with the forward himself.
The Serbian’s agents are said to be holding out for as much as a whopping £15m in payments for making the deal happen, while Vlahovic himself could pocket up to £300,000 a week, should his representatives get what they want from the negotiations.
Arsenal previously paid Mesut Ozil that amount in wages when the German playmaker extended his contract in 2018. Aubameyang is the current highest-paid star at London Colney – and is said to earn a similar amount.
Though the north Londoners can clearly pay Vlahovic’s demands – especially with the likes of Lacazette and Aubameyang leaving in the summer – it seems highly unlikely that they will. It seems unlikely, too, that any club in Europe will offer that much to a 21-year-old with such little football under his belt.
More probable is that Vlahovic will stay put at least until the summer, when he can weigh up expected moves from Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Juventus.
Vlahovic has been reported as being unconvinced by the Gunners’ project in the past.
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