Gonzalo Higuain

[Özim]

Arsenal struggle to agree Higuain fee with Real Madrid

The Gunners remain locked in negotiations with los Blancos but are reluctant to pay more than £21 million for the Argentine striker and are now considering a fall-back option

Arsenal's bid to sign Gonzalo Higuain has stalled as they struggle to agree a fee with Real Madrid, Goal understands.

The Londoners are reluctant to pay above £21 million for the striker, while the Spanish giants hold out for £25.5m.

The two clubs remain locked in negotiations but Arsene Wenger is now understood to be eyeing up an alternative proven striker at a cheaper price.

Goal reported in June that an Arsenal delegation flew out to Madrid to finalise the Higuain deal with their Madrid counterparts.

However, the talks did not result in an agreement and, despite Arsenal's confidence that a deal can be secured, Wenger is now considering a fall-back option.

Arsenal have agreed the terms of a contract with Higuain that will start with a salary of £100,000-a-week, which will bring him in line with the club's top earners Theo Walcott and skipper Thomas Vermaelen.

Higuain will pocket a bumper pay rise if he completes a move to the Gunners as he is believed to be earning a relatively modest £64,000-a-week at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Juventus have also made the prolific forward an offer but are unwilling to pay a £20m-plus fee after signing Carlos Tevez and unveiling fellow forward Fernando Llorente on Tuesday.

Arsenal remain in pole position to capture Higuain, who has his heart set on a move to Emirates Stadium but has to remain patient while negotiations continue.

Wenger has prioritised the signing of a top forward this summer and retains a concrete interest in Wayne Rooney, who is keen to sever his ties with Manchester United.

The Higuain deal is regarded as easier to secure even though it would break the £20m transfer barrier and comfortably smash the club's transfer record.

Arsenal began their summer recruitment drive on Monday after completing the signing of Yaya Sanogo on a free transfer from Auxerre.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892/...th-real-madrid

[Joker]

Now is not the time for penny pinching. If we lose him because of a reluctance to pay a little more for Higuain it'll be so dissapointing.

[selassie]

Now is not the time for penny pinching. If we lose him because of a reluctance to pay a little more for Higuain it'll be so dissapointing.

Yep.

Gazidis & Wenger should put up or shut up. It's no good them boasting about how we can afford player x, y & z and then haggling over loose change to complete a deal.

I wish they would just pay the money and close the deal. We have other pressing needs in the team that need addressing too.

[Ollie the Optimist]

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892/...th-real-madrid

I got to the point where it says "goal understands" and stopped reading.

[Özim]

I got to the point where it says "goal understands" and stopped reading.

So you read the bit about considering a fall back option and the dealing stalling due to struggling to agree a fee. Good because that's much the gist of the story.

[Ollie the Optimist]

So you read the bit about considering a fall back option and the dealing stalling due to struggling to agree a fee. Good because that's pretty all of the story.

Goal keep telling us we have met fellani release clause when everyone else says we haven't. They know nothing, they get everything wrong . Genuinely cannot think of an exclusive etc they have got right

[Özim]

I think we've seen a number of times in the past we'd rather spend most of the summer trying to negotiate a below market price than bite the bullet and pay the going rate to get someone we need signed up, in many cases leading to other clubs jumping in whilst we deliberate.

We've got the money, 25 million seems a fair price for a player of his quality and age, we should just pay it and move onto the next target.

[Özim]

Goal keep telling us we have met fellani release clause when everyone else says we haven't. They know nothing, they get everything wrong . Genuinely cannot think of an exclusive etc they have got right

So you believe in this theory that we're not announcing any signings because we're worried Man U won't sell Rooney to us if we've signed Higuain (or that the price will rocket), but you refuse to believe that we'd be struggling to agree a fee for a player when we've pretty done this kind of thing time and time again?

[Ollie the Optimist]

Yeah we should. Can't argue with that but no one knows why the deal is stalling, the fee could be agreed and he's just on holiday so can't do the medical, who knows? So many news stories saying different things that means no one knows a thing.

[Özim]

We don't know what's going on that's true, but because of what we've seen in the last 6-7 years hearing that we're haggling and want someone for less than the market price is no surprise. This deal has been dragging on a long time (if it's even real), but it wouldn't be entirely suprising to see us miss out on a player due to the transfer fee, we've got history in that area sadly.