Arsenal agreed a £6.2 million fee on Monday night with Turkish club Fenerbahce for the Brazil left-back Andre Santos and have also made an enquiry for Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun.
With the transfer window closing on Wednesday at 11pm, manager Arsène Wenger is working frantically to try to strengthen a squad horribly exposed during Sunday’s 8-2 defeat against Manchester United. The signing of 28-year-old Santos, a 22-cap international, is something of a coup for Wenger.
A £10 million deal for South Korea striker Park Chu-Young — who is due to return home to complete his national service in three years’ time — is likely to be announced on Tuesday but Wenger also wants to add at least one more defender and midfielder.
The move for Benayoun is a slight surprise but, following the departures of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, he has been identified as a player who could offer both creativity and Premier League experience.
Benayoun indicated on his Twitter site that he is likely to leave Chelsea recently and gave up his No 10 shirt to new arrival Juan Mata. Lille are also interested.
Wenger is also keen to reinforce in more central midfield areas. Of his initial targets, Marseille’s Lucho Gonzalez and Lille’s Eden Hazard now look almost certain to stay in France.
Everton have little interest in any swap deal involving Mikel Arteta for Nicklas Bendtner, while Rennes are holding out for €30 million (£26.5 million) for Yann M’Vila.
Arsenal do, however, retain an interest in France midfielder Marvin Martin, who would be available at around £12 million.
The situation regarding defenders is also complicated. Arsenal have already had bids rejected for both Bolton's Gary Cahill and Everton centre-back Phil Jagielka, while an inquiry has also been made to Chelsea over the availability of Alex. That has not been followed up with a firm offer and there is an increasing sense that Cahill or Jagielka remain the most likely targets.
Arsenal’s offer for Cahill last week, which was worth an initial £6 million rising to £10 million, seemed to cause outrage in Bolton. Owen Coyle, the Bolton manager, described the bid as a “million miles” short of their valuation while chairman Phil Gartside also republished — and later deleted – an abusive message about Wenger on his Twitter account which put the bid at £6 million.
Wenger insisted that the offer was higher and it is thought that Arsenal are prepared to go up to £12 million, with the possibility of a further £3 million depending on appearances.
Cahill’s contract expires next season so Bolton would risk losing him for nothing next year if they do not sell during this transfer window.
The well-documented financial restrictions at Everton could also make it difficult to refuse a significantly improved offer for Jagielka.
Arsenal have already had two bids rejected for the England defender.
One player poised to leave Arsenal is Armond Traoré, who was yesterday finalising a loan move to Queens Park Rangers. Traoré endured a particularly torrid afternoon during Arsenal’s defeat against United.
Kieran Gibbs is expected back from injury after the international break, with the left-back position to be further reinforced by the arrival of Santos.
Originally Posted by gunnerrrrr
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