Arsenal are confident of
overcoming a late snag in their
pursuit of Santi Cazorla to sign
the midfielder from Malaga for
around £18 million by the end of
the week.
Source told Goal.com that
the club were set to complete the
signing of Cazorla on Wednesday
night and schedule an immediate
medical check.
"This has been a rather tricky
deal arrangement. As revealed by
Goal.com last week, Arsenal's bid
to sign Santi Cazorla looked to
have stalled, with Malaga owner
Al Thani reluctant to lose his
prize asset in the player.
"However, within a week,
everything has changed drastically. Now, Al
Thani looks certain to sell the
club soonest and whereas
previously the economic
problems of the club were
tolerable - it has happened
before that players have not
been paid on time, but Al Thani
always delivers in the end - now
the situation is less worst.
"The deal is not a cheap one, but
Arsenal finally look to have got
their man though the deal has suffered a late
hitch over the fee and the
schedule of payments for the 27-
year old Spain international.
However, it is understood that
the cost agreed by the two clubs
will eventually be below £20m
and around the £18m.
Sources expect that Cazorla will
put pen to paper on a deal later this
week and that he will arrive in
London in the next few days to
undertake a medical test.
The club will then turn their
attention to signing Nuri Sahin
on a season-long loan from
Madrid.
"The Cazorla deal is the top priority,"
a source said. "It was
expected to be done by
Wednesday night but there has
been a late hitch to the schedule. It should still go
through by the end of the week.
The Sahin one is currently on the
backburner of Arsenal.
The Gunners' north London
rivals Tottenham have turned
down an offer to take Sahin on
loan as part of the Spanish
giant's bid for Luka Modric
but that has'nt deterred
Arsene Wenger from making a
move for the player.
Wenger considers Sahin a useful
addition to his squad to play as a
deep-lying playmaker after
learning that Jack Wilshere is
likely to miss at least the first
three months of the new season
with ongoing ankle and knee
injury.
The versatile Cazorla, who was a
fringe member of the Spain
squad that won Euro 2012, is
earmarked for a major role at the
club this season in one of the
three attacking midfield
positions behind the central
forward.
Cazorla has decided to make the
move to the Premier League after
being frustrated by the financial
problems of Malaga, who he
joined from Villarreal twelve months
ago.
He will become Arsenal's most
expensive signing, beating the
£15m they paid for Andrey
Arshavin in January year 2010.
Arsenal have been busy in the
transfer market this summer,
signing two internationals in
Olivier Giroud and Lukas
Podolski, although doubts
surround the future of captain
van Persie over bids for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment